Nana

In the character of Nana, Zola epitomised Paris of the 1860s, in all its gaiety, indulgence and moral corruption.  His story of the rise and tragic downfall of a young courtesan is played against a background of sexual and financial greed in the France of Napoleon III, culminating in the tragedy of the Franco-Prussian War.

Olwyn Wymark's brilliant adaptation is a fast-moving evocation of the theatres and dancehalls, brothels, boulevards and racetracks of Second Empire Paris.  Here, at high class gatherings they dance the quadrille, the waltz and polka, while at the other end of the spectrum, the can-can is bursting into life.  Anthony Ingle's original score effectively conjures up the sound world of Offenbach, Gounod, Wagner and other composers of the period.