Thérèse Raquin

by Helen Edmundson (Adapted by), Émile Zola

A story of lust, madness and destruction set in the backstreets of Paris. Based on Emile Zola's classic novel.

The beautiful but doomed heroine is trapped in a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin, Camille. Every Thursday evening she watches her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin, play dominoes... until one day her husband brings along an old friend, the alluring and athletic Laurent. As Laurent and Thérèse embark on an illicit affair, a turbulent passion is unleashed that drives them ultimately to violence and murder.

Helen Edmundson's sensuous adaptation of Thérèse Raquin premiered at the Theatre Royal, Bath, in July 2014.

'[a] compelling, poetic and fleet adaptation… riveting' - The Times

'period noir, a psychological thriller that will pin you to your seat as surely as a Hitchcock film' - Daily Mail

'highly intelligent and horribly compelling' - Independent

'a superb piece of work… funny, charged with erotic fissure and has a spine tingling eeriness' - WhatsOnStage

Genres: Plays

112 pages, Paperback

Published May 12, 2015

About the author

Helen Edmundson is a British playwright and screenwriter. She has won awards and critical acclaim both for her original writing and for her adaptations of various literary classics for the stage and screen.

Edmundson was born in Liverpool, in 1964. Most of her childhood was spent on the Wirral and in Chester. She studied Drama at Manchester University.