Reader Reviews
Therese Raquin (Lyttelton (National Theatre), West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | It never ceases to amaze me how different people see different things in the same production. I found this production (which I saw on a Saturday matinee with an audience member with the worst hearing aid whining i've ever witnessed!) totally thrilling.I found the two leads utterly riveting and the sexual chemistry between them was hothothot!!!Unlike the previous poster I absolutely loved the nightmare sequence - it was so theatrically bold - and mirrors the novel's relentlessness. I cannot recommend this production highly enough. - 212.100.250.225) | 08 Jan 07 |
| I was slightly disappointed - the enthusiastic reviews had led me to expect greater tension and better acting. Judy Parfitt is the only person on stage who truly convinces, and her brilliance tends to show up the limits of the sadly miscast leads (Ben Daniels and Charlotte Emmerson), between whom I did not detect a spark of genuine sexual chemistry. The play is in the wrong theatre: the Lyttleton stage is far too large for a play whose emphasis is on cramped dinginess. The nightmare scene goes on for far too long: I felt like shouting, "We've got the point." For the real thing, read the book. - 81.131.89.52) | 06 Jan 07 |
| This is a wonderful production, bringing out the psychology of the story and heightening the tension and drama. The soundtrack is an inspired idea, the staging impeccable and the performances all spot on. I would have expected this play to need a smaller space, but it works perfectly in the Lyttleton. - 86.138.26.181) | 16 Dec 06 |
| The first half of Therese Raquin recreates the numbing tedium of life in the grey apartment, superbly realised in Hildegard Bechtler's design; possibly not the easiest viewing following a sleepless night. Appropriately, the second half bursts into life, particularly an almost cinematic sequence of nightmarish insomnia with exceptional use of lighting and music. Following Pillars of the Community Marianne Elliot has directed another thought-provoking revival. There are excellent supporting performances althogh I was less convinced by Charlotte Emmerson and Ben Daniels as the less than erotically-charged leads. - 62.6.139.13) | 13 Dec 06 |
| Unfortunately this production didn't work for me. The two leads were either wrongly cast, although I have seen both in other plays and they were superb, or as I suspect in the way they were directed. This is re-enforced to my mind by the dream sequence, used to convey the marriage night, which was embarrassingly bad! It went on for far too long and quite frankly look ridiculous. Apart from that there were some good supporting performances. Pity though to see the sorely missed and wonderfull Judy Parfitt in this rather lack lustre production. - 172.200.28.227) | 17 Nov 06 |
| The National at its best, a superb play, brilliantly directed and performed by a uniformly excellent cast - It is also first rate entertainment. - 80.47.0.189) | 14 Nov 06 |
| Surely it was Camille and Therese who were cousins. Laurent a childhood friend? - 80.43.45.124) | 14 Nov 06 |
