The Talented Mr Ripley at Lighthouse Poole Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Mel S-W
I arrived at the theatre tonight, ready to step into a world of deception, desire, and deadly ambition. Begging the question … how far would you go to become someone else? But also … Do you ever feel like you’re being watched?
Upon entering the theatre we were met with 1950s style Italian music which transported us back to the era whilst we waited for the show to start. The staging looked very modern, a black stage with strip lighting with a raised square plinth in the middle of the stage, home to a typewriter and a single lamp. I’ve never seen or read The Talented Mr Riley so I was intrigued as to what was going to happen in what would clearly be a modern production.
The use of the staging was fantastic. The raised platform featured a hole in the middle, from which countless actors seemed to appear from. The space, which became a motor car with headlights just appearing at the front of the gap, became a bar and a boat. The cast were coming and going very cleverly and changing characters seamlessly. The strip lighting was used cleverly, particularly when showing alternative endings to certain scenarios.
The show follows Tom Ripley… 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.
The ten-strong ensemble cast is led by Ed McVey as Tom Ripley. Ed was one of the stars of the hit Netflix show The Crown. He was simply marvellous as Tom and such a phenomenal actor that he stole the stage. He had so much dialogue and slipped effortlessly between playing Tom and breaking the fourth wall and talking to the audience.
Bruce Herberlin-Earle played the suave Richard “Dickie” Greenleaf, tall, good looking and with an air about him whilst EastEnders regular and Strictly Come Dancing finalist Maisie Smith starred alongside him as Marge.
The show brings Patricia Highsmith’s iconic psychological thriller to life like never before. Razor-sharp dialogue delivered by some fantastic actors, simmering tension, and a dangerously charismatic antihero that you sometimes feel sorry for. I felt like I was pulled into Ripley’s intoxicating world—where nothing is quite as it seems.
I would rate this show 3.5 out of 5. The show was great and some very clever acting, but the show was advertised as 2 hours plus interval but the show was well over two hours 45 minutes long. I wasn’t sure what happened, whether things were just running later than planned but it felt like it dragged a bit towards the end. I don’t want to take away from the fact that the acting was amazingly brilliant and Ed McVey was marvellous, it was a different performance than I expected to see and I really enjoyed it. The show was definitely very National Theatre-esq.
Rating: 3.5/5
The show resides at Lighthouse Poole for five nights and tickets start from £16.50. To see what else is on check out their website www.lighthousepoole.co.uk or by calling the Box Office on 01202 280000.
Lighthouse, Arts and Entertainment, 21 Kingland Road, Poole, Dorset, BH15 1UG