The theory of the trapping of nonspherical particles in the focal region of a high-numerical-aperture optical system is formulated in the framework of the transition matrix approach. Both the case of an unaberrated lens and the case of an aberrated one are considered. The theory is applied to single latex spheres of various sizes and, when the results are compared with the available experimental data, a fair agreement is attained. The theory is also applied to binary clusters of spheres of latex with a diameter of 220nm in various orientations. Although, in this case we have no experimental data to which our results can be compared, we get useful indications for the trapping of nonspherical particles. In particular, we find substantial agreement with recent results on the trapping of prolate spheroids in aberrated gaussian fields [S. H. Simpson and S. Hanna, J. Opt.Soc. Am. A 24, 430 (2007)].