The first production of this original play was in September 1995 at the Royal Theatre, Northampton, in a production directed by Michael Napier Brown and designed by Ray Lett.
The story, inspired by a notorious French murder case from 1847, concerns the brutal murder of the Duchesse de Praslin. Suspicion falls on her handsome husband, Duc Theo, whose alleged affair with the family governess, Henriette Deluzy, has been filling the newspapers for weeks. Etienne Pasquier, the Chancellor of France, is charged with preventing the scandal from toppling the monarchy. Mademoiselle Deluzy confesses but Pasquier soon realises that all is not as it seems.
The cast was led by Simon Dutton, Sandor Eles, Lynette Edwards, Christina Greatrex and Giles Taylor.
