The Talented Mr Ripley
Theatre Royal Brighton
until 2nd November 2025
Adapted for the stage by: Mark Leipacher
Genre: Drama, Play
Duration: 2 hr 35 mins incl. interval
Have you ever felt like you’re being watched? The first line from The Talented Mr Ripley sets the tone for the rest of the story. A story of lies, secrets, deception. The Talented Mr Ripley tells of the unraveling of a young man, Tom Ripley, and of the avalanche of destruction caused by his greediness.
Tom Ripley is a young accountant scraping by in New York. When he’s approached by Mr. Greenleaf, and asked to go to Italy to convince his son Dickie to return home, Tom jumps at the offer. However, once in Italy and in the presence of Dickie Greenleaf, Tom is completely raptured by the life of wealth and pleasure that Dickie leads, and is eager to become a part of it too, no matter the cost.
The Talented Mr Ripley is one of the best stage adaptations of a novel I’ve seen so far. It’s structured like a long monologue, interrupted every so often by other characters. But Tom constantly speaks to us, letting us take a peak at his thoughts, his torments. That’s what makes this play so unique: the constant filtering of every scene, every interaction, through Tom Ripley’s eyes. We’re never external spectators of the story, but we experience it through Tom’s warped psyche. We feel his inadequacy, his shallowness, we feel attacked and insecure at every turn just like he does.
Tom Ripley is the shell of a man. There’s nothing interesting about him, nothing captivating or charismatic. He feels this deficiency deeply, and constantly tries to copy and trick the people around him to convince himself he has something valuable to offer. The Talented Mr Ripley is not a traditional con artist story. It’s about a man who’s empty, who constantly feels out of place and has so much hatred inside of him.
Ed McVey offers a dazzling performance as Tom Ripley. He is so convincing in his pain, his confusion. He plays with emotions like kids do with toys, capable of manipulating everyone around him while offering a cheeky wink to the audience to let us know we’re in it with him. His performance is heartfelt, poignant. Every word is earnest, weighted carefully against the next. Because of the monologue-like structure of the play, Ed McVey carried most of the weight of the performance, and he did so with a mastery that is rare to witness for such a young actor.
Another striking thing about this play was the set design. It was completely stripped down, bare to the bones, minimalistic but eye catching all the same. While the play takes place in sun-soaked Italy, in glorious beaches and sparkling oceans, the set design relied simply on a few coloured lights and the work of the ensemble to recreate the scenery. I found this to be an effective way to once again pull our focus towards the main character and his words, his experience. Like a camera that zooms in on the most important detail of a scene, our eyes never leave Tom throughout the whole play.
The Talented Mr Ripley is an unsettling and tragic story, made all the better by Mark Leipacher’s stage adaptation and Ed McVey’s brilliant execution of one of the most infamous characters ever written.
The Talented Mr Ripley is currently playing at Theatre Royal until 1st November
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Reviewer: Roberta Guarini