The Talented Mr. Ripley – The Lowry Theatre, Salford

Writer: Patricia Highsmith

Adapter and director: Mark Leipacher

“Have you ever had the feeling you’re being watched?” becomes the mantra of this new adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 psychological thriller novel. Made into a successful Hollywood film in1999 and more recently spawning a Netflix series, The Talented Mr. Ripley is a work of fiction that has now endured a seventy-five-year lifespan. So much so, that this new theatrical adaptation is touring the country before a spell in London. Judging by the sold-out audience, its popularity is long-lasting.

Fantasist Tom Ripley (Ed McVey) is engaged by New York shipping magnate Herbert Greenleaf (Christopher Bianchi) to track down and return his philandering son, Dickie (Bruce Herberlin-Earle), from his jaunts around Italy. The dolce vita is an attractive existence for the young Dickie and girlfriend Marge (Maisie Smith). A womanizer and aspiring painter, the sunshine filled, chino wearing, Vespa driving hazy days of the Neapolitan coast is a far more an attractive proposition than his ‘responsibilities’ back in America – especially if backed by a healthy trust fund. When Ripley enters their perfect little bubble, he not only falls in love with it but with Dickie himself to the point of clinical obsession. His assignment to return Dickie to the US is soon replaced by a mission to become like him or even become him.

Mark Leipacher, who also directs, has adapted the novel highlighting the voyeuristic nature of the content and, us, as a theatre audience. Ripley often has Shakespearean asides half-heard by the characters onstage. Leipacher plays with the concept of the fourth wall and especially the art of ‘performance’ creating a production that is self-referential or ‘meta.’ Occasionally, part scenes are ‘re-taken’ as if on a movie set as blinding florescent strip lighting flood the audiences’ retinas. Characters playing actors playing characters are reset as “Action” is called to continue the play. Unfortunately, it is a layer of performative structure that is more confusing than revealing.

The three central characters are performed with strength. As Ripley, Ed McVey (known for his role as Prince William in The Crown) is whiny and self-obsessed as the self-serving narcissist. This is an enormous role to undertake. McVey is onstage throughout, switching between Tom and Dickie in physicality and voice, spectacles on and off, akin to Clarke Kent and Superman. As Dickie, Bruce Herbelin-Earle is suitably spoilt and sleazy. An unlikeable character, the plot ramps up … spoiler alert … once he is dispatched. Maisie Smtih has a busy performance as Dickie’s girlfriend/fiancé, left to chase her tail trying to piece together her partner’s sudden disappearance. There is also good support from Christopher Bianchi doubling as Dickie father, Herbert, and Italian detective Roverini attempting to unravel the mystery of Greenleaf and/or Ripley’s disappearance.

Liepacher includes a choral like element to his production. A pack of fedora tipped, trench coated figures create an ensemble, melting in and out of scenes, providing the push and pull of stage set necessity and becoming the supernumeraries as required. There is some good theatrical invention, especially around Sarita Piotrowski’s movement design, breathing pleasing visuals into what is a static production. Holly Piggot’s design is sharp and simple. Starkly cross-lit the action, in the main, takes place on a raised central square – reminiscent of a super-extended uber king size bed, leaning into the undercurrents of lust and unrequited sexual desire.

One must question whether this queer psychological drama has the stamina to fulfil a full-length stage play – or this lengthy adaptation peppered with monologues and letter narration doesn’t serve the story well. The stunning mis-en-scene of the 1950s Italian Amalfi coastline plays well on TV and film but in a stripped back, fluorescent lit stage, it becomes hard to visualise the appeal of this apparent idyll. Leipacher’s interest in the voyeur via the production’s repeated mantra is thought-provoking but an unnecessary addition to a story about a man simply riding his luck and ‘trying to get away with it.’

Runs until 22^nd November.

Tours until 2^nd May 2026.