Image: Matthew Backer in Switzerland.
Switzerland is a psychological drama set across two days in the twilight years of Patricia Highsmith, the acclaimed crime fiction writer whose body of work has lent itself to numerous highly successful film adaptations, among which include The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). If you didn’t know that already, you will after seeing Switzerland. Although the events that transpire are ficitionalised, it draws upon Highsmith’s actual biographical details, and a theme throughout the work is the blurring of lines between what is real and what is imaginary.
Edward Ridgeway (Matthew Backer) is a bright, up-and-coming publishing representatitve, firm with the intent of securing a contract for the next bestseller from the difficult, acerbic, but highly successful writer Patrica Highsmith (Andrea Moor). Overconfident and underprepared, he shows up at her secluded residence in the Swiss Alps, a place where she takes refuge from other people and society at large, with her cats and her comfortable routine where she feels in control. What ensues is a battle of wits, whereby each character gradually reveals themselves through their opinions, experiences, and conditioned responses.
This is bare-bones, dialogue driven theatre, with not as much in the way of action. While intrigue and suspense is maintained throughout the play, overall it isn’t as urgent or engaging as it could be.
At heart, Switzerland is a character study, styled after, informed by and heavily referencing the late author’s body of work. Both actors portray their characters beyond convincingly, fully fleshed and with a depth that connotes the respective worlds they inhabit. Andrea Moor is unsympathetic yet wickedly amusing as Patricia Highsmith, portrayed as a misanthropic figure perhaps too similar in sentiment to her morally ambiguous Byronic hero, Tom Ripley. Matthew Backer is endearing as the eager-to-please and seemingly unflappable Edward Ridgeway, with a wit to match his opponent. The dialogue between the two characters is original and entertaining for the most part, but at times it verges on long-winded and indulgent.
The set is a handsome and detailed replication of the interiors of a house, inspired by documentary footage of Patricia Highsmith’s real home in Switzerland where she lived out her final years. Thoughtfully arranged with carefully placed trinkets and collectibles, it serves as yet another means to reveal to the audience the Patricia Highsmith of the play. Lighting is used effectively to show transitions between scenes, and to set a surreal, dream-like tone towards the end.
This is a clever play, imbued with references and self-refence, symbols and multipe layers of meaning. Playwright Joanna Murray-Smith makes inventive use of theatre and the artistic license that comes with it to convey the internal world of Patricia Highsmith (whether or not the Patricia Highsmith of the play is a faithful facsimile) — as a writer and as a human — in a way that’s unique to the medium.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Switzerland
By Joanna Murray-Smith
Director: Paige Rattray
Designer: Anthony Spinaze
Lighting Designer: Ben Hughes
Composer/Sound Designer: Steve Toulmin
Cast: Andrea Moor, Matthew Backer
Queensland Theatre Company
Billie Brown Studio, South Brisbane
20 May – 26 June 2016
