Playwright Joanna Murray-Smith has a long held fascination with the brilliance of Patricia Highsmith, who published the classic novel The Talented Mr. Ripley in 1955.

In 2014, Murray-Smith’s Switzerland explored Highsmith’s life, directed by Sarah Goodes for the Sydney Theatre Company. Now, Goodes directs Murray-Smith’s new adaptation of Highsmith’s novel, continuing their engagements with the author’s morally ambiguous characters.

Murray-Smith describes Tom Ripley as “the world’s most famous serial killer […] waiting for his moment in the spotlight”. And while this accolade could be disputed, it reveals Murray-Smith’s fascination with the psychological and ethical complexities of the Ripley novel.

The story follows Ripley (played neatly and commendably by Will McDonald), a man in his 20s who lost his parents young and was raised by a poor but nasty aunt.

A surprise encounter sees Ripley sent to Europe by a wealthy shipping magnate (astutely played by Andrew McFarlane) to bring back his wayward son, Dickie Greenleaf (Raj Labade) – an inciting incident not unlike Henry Jame’s novel The Ambassadors. The publisher describes the novel as “a blend of the narrative subtlety of Henry James and the self-reflexive irony of Vladimir Nabokov”.

In Italy, Ripley becomes thoroughly enamoured with Greenleaf and his glamorous life. Labade plays........

© The Conversation