The Talented Mr Ripley, New Diorama Theatre

Sociopath Tom Ripley befriends the charismatic Dickie Greenleaf after being sent to Italy by Greenleaf’s father to lure his son back into the family business. But in the Sanremo sunshine, things take a dark turn as Ripley’s friendship moves towards obsession and jealousy. Tom's ingenuity and his ruthless ambition are cast against underlying violence and mounting suspicion in this dark and absorbing thriller. 

Patricia Highsmith's novel of The Talented Mr Ripley, originally published in 1955 is a modern classic, which then inspired an acclaimed film adaptation by Anthony Mighella, starring Jude Law and Matt Damon. Unsurprisingly considering the gripping narrative, there have been many attempts to translate the tale for theatre, most recently a 2010 production at the Royal and Derngate. We are excited to see how this award winning ensemble company will perform and project the latent tension.

The Faction theatre company are collaborating for the fourth time with New Diorama and their previous seasons have been immense successes. With a core ensemble of between 10-13 actors, they have staged everything from Shakespeare to Schiller, Sophocles to Strindberg. Founded in 2008, artistic director Mark Leipacher wanted to re-imagine “classical texts with a contemporary aesthetic” heavily influenced by the techniques of German theatre. It’s these plays that Leipacher finds “allow this scope for huge productions, bombastic ideas and interesting visual expanse, [they contain] really big universal ideas that still hold true.”