See it if You like dark stories and a thought provoking story about a woman's position in a world with few choices in life. Great performances, set.
Don't see it if You're looking for a happy show with a happy, fluffy ending. This is dramatic, brooding theater (which I really enjoy)
See it if you appreciate great staging. The sets are dramatic and understated. The performances are excellent.
Don't see it if you don't like dark and disturbing plays.
See it if You like period pieces that have a heavy theme or moral and overall dark tone. See it if you want to see STUNNING sets.
Don't see it if You don't enjoy period pieces or slower works.
See it if you like an edgy, good acting piece. very good directing, show moves along nicely.
Don't see it if moves slow at one part, it does keep you interested, however, throughout.
See it if you enjoy great writing, are intrigued by inventive staging & are in the mood for something darker.
Don't see it if you prefer spectacles or traditional story telling methods.
See it if you dig interesting production design, you like French impressionism, you're a period film buff
Don't see it if You don't like long plays, you need a happy ending
See it if You like performance driven shows with cool staging
Don't see it if You want to see something faster paced or more thought provoking
See it if you're looking for something a bit dark, moody, and well acted.
Don't see it if you're looking for something light and fluffy.
"Edmundson and Cabnet haven’t decided whether 'Therese Raquin' is a great tragedy or some Grand Guignol potboiler…Not everything goes wrong. Ryan, the show’s major piece of eye candy, is appropriately studly and manages to produce few laughs despite being stuck with some of Edmundson’s clunkiest lines. Judith Light as Therese’s mother-in-law makes the character’s tiresomeness almost bearable. But even she can’t escape Edmundson and Cabnet’s need to go over the top."
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"The best reason to see this Roundabout production, an uneven adaptation of Zola’s 1867 novel, is the spectacular set design...The pace picks up from late in the first act to midway through the second act. The subsequent descent into guilt and madness seemed anticlimactic...Director Evan Cabnet really should have picked up the pace a bit during the play’s early scenes. My interest lagged, but I really liked the sets."
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"The first act of Helen Edmundson's stage adaptation really had me going. I was totally enraptured by Keira Knightley's nearly silent performance as the titular frustrated heroine, expressing her sexual and spiritual longing through body language and eloquent features... So far, so good, but in the second act Therese opens her mouth. Knightley and Matt Ryan as Laurent start overacting all over the place and Cabnet turns a tragic tale of passion into an episode of 'Dark Shadows.'"
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"Fans of salacious French fiction and late 19th-century art will find themselves plunging deep into the Roundabout Theatre Company’s spellbinding and visually stunning production…Featuring Keira Knightley in a commanding Broadway debut, director Evan Cabnet’s production feels like so many paintings come to life, and playwright Helen Edmundson’s adaptation of Zola’s novel brings a page-turning urgency to the twisted 1867 tale."
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"Fans who enjoy watching Knightley tackle torment will find much to savor in Roundabout Theatre Company's new staging, featuring a fresh adaptation of the novel…Cabnet's production succeeds largely because it doesn't try to inject any subtlety into the psycho-sexual histrionics emphasized in Edmundsen's adaptation. To the contrary, the spooky, ambient sound design and original compositions provided by Josh Schmidt suggest an erotic horror film."
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"Knightley’s commitment to this latest part is never in doubt…She communicates the sullen intensity of a woman not easily given over to cheer...A body count that begins to rival that of Hamlet but without much in the way of nuanced introspection…The eventual guilt surrounding the couple’s malfeasance is accompanied by enough sound effects to posit the director Evan Cabnet’s production as Broadway’s unexpected answer to 'The Woman in Black.'"
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"'Therese Raquin' demands your total attention from the getgo...The acting mostly measures up...The play does run a tad too long and would greatly benefit from trimming (or cutting) a few scenes...That said, this 'Therese Raquin' has much going for it. From its spine-tingling suspense, to its quirky psychological twists, to its breath-taking ending, this show (even with its flaws) is haunting."
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"This is a suspenseful, beautifully staged adultery-and-murder thriller that, with the emotionally translucent Keira Knightley making her Broadway debut in the title role, left me feeling as if I had been somewhere faraway for just under three hours…There are enough red herrings for a sneaky, old-time mystery, enough steamy clutches for a modern bodice-ripper and plenty of Knightley to cement her reputation here as a serious stage actress."
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