I struggled to connect with what is essentially a story of sheer self-indulgence, with Tom Ripley (Ed McVey) waxing lyrical, in what were sometimes long, intense and over-elaborate monologues to the audience, about how he was going to succeed in making ‘everyone’ believe whatever he wanted them to believe. There was so much deception going on that by the end of the evening’s proceedings, it was evident that nothing at all could be fully trusted (in what was, in any event, a fictional story anyway) – and perhaps even Ripley himself was no longer the man he was before he left the United States for Italy, on assignment by Herbert Greenleaf (Christopher Bianchi), a business tycoon, to try to talk Greenleaf’s son Dickie (Bruce Herbelin-Earle) into returning to America. Of course, Greenleaf senior could have just cut off funding to his son, but this would be neither here nor there, as Dickie had already indicated he was prepared to find employment to be self-sufficient in Europe.
A fairly minimalist set had a central square platform, which seemed quite high for those seated in the front stalls: your reviewer was given seats in the dress circle, from where the sightlines were perfectly reasonable. Every so often, someone in the role of a film director would yell, “Cut!” and a scene would have to be replayed, because this was Ripley’s story, apparently being made into a motion picture. Every time Ripley, supposedly playing himself, deviated from the script, which he presumably wrote himself anyway, this was to be edited out of the final cut. But watching all that was unnecessarily repetitive, and frankly, added precisely nothing to what was a pack of lies anyway. And if I wanted to watch people lying with flair and creativity, I could have stayed home and watched proceedings in Parliament…
That said, Ed McVey’s Ripley barely leaves the stage. Some of his deception involves impersonation, and although the story is set in the 1950s, it has some resonance with contemporary life: identity theft, and ways of obtaining someone else’s money, still happen today. The show’s key line, repeated several times, “Have you ever had the feeling you are being watched?” also has its modern equivalents in the forms of, amongst other things, near-ubiquitous surveillance and online stalking.
The minimalist set meant there was no distinction between, say, America and Italy, or between the modest living standards of Ripley and the affluence of the Greenleafs. It did, however, inevitably mean scene changes were incredibly swift, which kept the dialogue flowing. Even so, the show felt longer than it was. I wasn’t convinced with regards to the portrayal of the Italian police as lacking in competence and intelligence: after all, they have been, since the nineteenth century, tackling the Mafia. If Inspector Roverini (Christopher Bianchi) thinks his English isn’t great, it’s still better than the standard of English of some people in the police in Britain I’ve encountered over the years.
Anyway, this was a mixed bag if ever there was one. The cast work hard, but the production as a whole doesn’t quite manage to be greater than the sum of its parts. Atmospheric tension and all that were there, but not nearly as strongly as I would have expected a psychological thriller on stage to be.
Review by Chris Omaweng
“I never wanted to murder anyone. It was necessary.”
Step into a world of deception, desire, and deadly ambition. How far would you go to become someone else?
Tom Ripley is a nobody—scraping by in New York, forging signatures, telling little white lies—until a chance encounter changes everything. When a wealthy stranger offers him an all-expenses-paid trip to Italy to bring home his wayward son, Dickie Greenleaf, Tom leaps at the opportunity.
But in the sun-drenched glamour of 1950s Italy, surrounded by shimmering waters and whispered secrets, Tom is seduced by the life Dickie leads—the freedom, the wealth, the effortless charm. Fascination turns to obsession, and as his grip tightens on Dickie’s world, the lines between truth and deception begin to blur. What starts as an innocent opportunity spirals into a chilling game of lies, identity theft, and murder.
CAST
Ed McVey – Tom Ripley
Bruce Herbelin-Earle – Dickie Greenleaf
Maisie Smith – Marge Sherwood
Christopher Bianchi – Herbert Greenleaf / Roverini
Cary Crankson – Freddie Miles / Alvin McCarron / Figure 3
Leda – Emily / Cleo / Dottie / Stuzzi / Buffi / French Girl / Figure 5
Jason Eddy – Peter / Fausto / Receptionist
Lachlan McCall – Figure 1 / Concierge / Passerby
Hollie Sullivan – Figure 2 / American
Aldous Ciokajlo-Squire – Figure 4 / Official
CREATIVES
Mark Leipacher – Adaptor and Director
Holly Pigott – Set and Costume Designer
Zeynep Kepekli – Lighting Designer
Max Pappenheim – Sound Desinger
Marc Frankum CDG – Casting Director
Sarita Piotrowski – Movement Director
Craig Forrest-Thomas – Wigs, Hair and Makeup Designer
Haruko Kuroda – Fight and Intimacy Director
Tian Brown-Simpson – Associate Director and Resident Director
THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY
Richmond Theatre, 10 to 15 November 2025
UK and Ireland Tour continues to 2 May 2026
