Thérèse Raquin

On Broadway at The Roundabout Theatre Company/Studio 54



It’s 1868 somewhere along the River Seine in Paris, France.  Camille (Gabriel Ebert) is having a spell of sickness and his doting Mother Madame Raquin (Judith Light) is tending to him while  a withdrawn Thérèse (Keira Knightley) Looks on.  Camille is rather weak in health but is a spoiled mama’s boy with a huge sense of entitlement. In time we will learn of the relationship between these three and of the tragedy that is to come 

Thérèse was left in the care of Madame Raquin, her fathers sister, after her mother died.  Her father went to sea and never returned leaving Thérèse held hostage  and in depair.  She  can only finds moments of freedom  when she  can run off to the river , but her freedom is put to a permanent end when she turns 21 and is quickly married off to her first cousin Camille.  He is a vile man, that treats her with no respect, and it’s clear that they despise each other.  Camille decides to move to Paris and get a better job, and they get a lovely flat with a shop downstairs that the women run.  Thérèse continues to withdraw  until one evening at the weekly game of dominos, Camille returns home with an old childhood friend.  Laurent (Matt Ryan) is charming and handsome and all the things that Camille is not and everything changes. He’s from a wealthy background, but his father cut him off when he chose the wrong path.  He’s bit of a dreamer who would rather live as an artist than sit behind a desk all day, but he does enough to pay the rent and lives an otherwise frugal existence.  He speaks of his days living as an artist, and offers to paint a portrait of Camille to thank them for their welcoming hospitality.  We  see the growing sexual tension between he and Thérèse, and the moment they are left alone together there is an explosion of heated passion and a torrid love affair ensues.  They set up secret meetings while Camille is at work, and we soon see a new Thérèse who is happy and singing with glee.  When circumstances start getting in the way they of their daily lovemaking, they  grow frustrated and talk of a plan to get rid of Camille.   When Laurent delivers the finished portrait to the house, they celebrate and Camille invites them all take a trip to the islands for the weekend.  Madame refuses but insists the 3 go off and enjoy.  The next thing you know they are on a rowboat and Laurent is pushing Camille off the back of the boat.   Laurent and Thérèse also go overboard to make this look like an accident but they are the only 2 that come out of the water.  It looks like the perfect crime. 

When they return, this is all written off a tragic accident, and Laurent even comes out somewhat of a hero for saving Thérèse.  Madame is destroyed at the loss of her son and Thérèse, riddled with guilt, turns all of her affection to her, while growing more and more distant from Laurent.  9 months passes and Madame is still inconsolable but is now growing concern for Thérèse  who is  being haunted by her crime and seems to be losing her mind. So when a proposal of marriage from Laurent is spoken of, Madame readily agrees it would be a good thing for all.  Thérèse and Laurent wed and Madame signs all of her belongings over to the two of them.  You would think they now have everything they want, but they are both haunted by the memories of their evil crime, and the house seems to be haunted by the ghost of Camille.  Their love turns sour. One evening while they are having a heated argument Madame has overhears the truth about what happened to Camille and she collapses and goes into a catatonic state.   She appears to want to spill the truth at the last domino game when her hand starts to try to spell something on the table, but she cannot, and really there was no need as there is no escape for this deadly duo.  The tension continues to build between Thérèse and Laurent and the relationship continues to deteriorate to a violent end. 


The story flows well under the direction of Evan Cabnet.  The set design by Beowulf Boritt begins simply by shuttered panes descending from above  to move us from the flat to the river, but when the move to Paris takes place the set transforms into an   elaborate display where an entire apartment drops to the stage with all the trimmings.  Laurent’s attic flat floats in mid air surrounded by a twinkling sky and the river is realistic, as the 3 of them get into a row boat and appear to be rowing up the river. 

Keira Knightley gives a commendable performance in her Broadway debut, and while she did not have much dialogue in the first Act, she brings it in the second.  The leading men also delivered clean and crisp performances.   Judith Light,  as always, is meticulous and flourishes in this role.  The additional cast members that joined in the weekly domino games consisted of Superintendent Michaud (David Patrick Kelly) who was not getting any awards for his detective work,  Monsieur Grivet (Jeff Still), Suzanne (Mary Wiseman)  were all colorful additions.  There was also an ensemble cast of Priests, Wedding Guests and Attendants.  As you can well imagine, they needed the Priest a lot.  Go see for yourself that no one gets away with murder.  For tickets and more information go visit http://www.roundabouttheatre.org and check my site on how to find discounts here -ThisbroadSway 10/25/15