VIDEO: A Close-Up Look At THERESE RAQUIN's On-Stage River and Row Boat With Designer Beowulf Boritt

Émile Zola's 1867 novel, Thérèse Raquin, and his play adaptation that quickly followed, was a major influence in the movement of naturalism in the arts, particularly when it came to European painters.

Evan Cabnet's current Broadway mounting of Helen Edmundson's adaptation has a design inspired by that movement. Designers Beowulf Boritt (set), Jane Greenwood (costumes) and Keith Parham (lights) offer striking visuals that resemble a somewhat faded oil painting come to life.

The play's pivotal scene involves a drowning in the Seine, and in this fascinating video, Cabnet and Boritt talk about what the scene represents and the challenges of depicting the moment with an actual rowboat floating in an on-stage river.

Roundabout Theatre Company's new adaptation of Thérèse Raquin stars Academy Award®, Golden Globe® and Olivier nominee Keira Knightley (Pride and Prejudice, Pirates of the Caribbean film series) in her Broadway debut.

A quiet young woman with a restless spirit, Thérèse (Knightley) submits to a loveless life at the side of her weak and selfish husband (Tony Award® winner Gabriel Ebert, Matilda), and her controlling mother-in-law (two-time Tony Award winner Judith Light, The Assembled Parties) ... until she meets his childhood friend, Laurent (Matt Ryan, "Constantine"). When their overwhelming passion spins violently out of control, they realize that love can be a dangerous game, and sometimes there is no winner.

Based on the novel by Émile Zola, Thérèse Raquin by Helen Edmundson is a tale of love, lust, betrayal and guilt that will leave you breathless.