FOR an evening filled with simulated copulation, there’s not much heat in the new production of “Therese Raquin.”
Presented by PTP/NYC, formerly known as the Potomac Theatre Project (Note to company: Too many letters!), Neal Bell’s overly studied rendition manages to take Emile Zola’s 1867 tale of illicit passion and murder and reduce it to a tedious exercise in theatrical stylization.
This isn’t the first time “Raquin” has defied adaptation, as anyone who saw “Thou Shalt Not,” the short-lived Broadway musical version set in New Orleans, can attest.
The plot concerns the ill-fated marriage of Therese (Lily
Balsen) to her sickly cousin Camille (Willie Orbison), arranged by her adoptive aunt (Helen-Jean Arthur).
“At night when you get to the top of the stairs, you’ll turn to the left, instead of the right,” the aunt helpfully points outs.
But when Therese spots Camille’s hunky, rakish co-worker Laurent (Scott Janes), trouble is afoot. Soon they’re embroiled in a passionate affair, conveyed here by a series of athletic (if fully clothed) couplings that indicate the rehearsals, at least, must have been a lot of fun.
They conspire to get rid of Camille by throwing him into a river, but he’s not so easily dispatched. He soon returns — in lurid, zombie-style makeup — to haunt the pair to the brink of madness.
Unfortunately, this elemental and powerful tale is gussied up by director Jim Petosa, whose conceits include having the supporting characters ominously clacking dominoes to create tension. And the overly choreographed blocking often resembles an avant-garde dance piece.
The actors are mostly unable to compensate for the schematic proceedings, providing little depth to their characterizations. And Orbison plays the cuckolded Camille as so pathetically infantile that you’ll find yourself cheering on his assailants.
THERESE RAQUIN
Atlantic Stage 2, 330 W. 16th St.; 212-279-4200 . Through July 26.
