The Talented Mr Ripley

Synopsis

Tom Ripley is sent to Italy to help persuade Dickie Greenleaf home to his American parents. As they strike up a friendship, he is seduced by Dickie’s luxurious carefree existence. He will do anything to have it for himself, with deadly consequences. Enjoying the high life under the scorching Italian sun, Tom seems to have made it. But will he get away with it? Adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s 1950s thriller, made famous by the award-winning film starring Matt Damon and Jude Law.

Our Review:

Anne Morley-Priestman - 15 March 2010

It’s a little like the title character – more shadow than substance. Bob Carlton’s new production of the Patricia Highsmith novel The Talented Mr Ripley in the 1998 adaptation by Phyllis Nagy has an impressive set by Claire Lyth and committed performances by the seven-strong cast but doesn’t really work. For me, at any rate.

The title character is the archetypical anti-hero. We tend to like such villainous creations on stage, especially when they are of the battling underdog sort (Shakespeare’s Richard III is the obvious example “sent into this world half made up”), but they do need to take the audience into their confidence, to get them on side as it were. Marcus Webb grows into the part of Tom Ripley as he back-stabs and bashes his way to a fortune but he’s never plausibly likeable.

As anyone familiar with Highsmith’s original, the book’s sequels and the various film versions will know, Rip...

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