Review: SWITZERLAND, Ambassadors Theatre

Directed by Lucy Bailey, this play is set in a remote house in 90s Switzerland where the elderly and mean Patricia Highsmith - eccentric writer of many psychological thrillers and creator of the famous murderous character Tom Ripley - receives a visit from a young man. Sent by her American publisher, Edward Ridgeway's goal is convincing her to write one last Ripley novel.

Coming straight to the West End from Theatre Royal Bath, Joanna Murray-Smith's two-hander sees Downton Abbey's own Phyllis Logan as the nasty novelist opposite Calum Finlay, who plays the unfortunate publishing assistant.

It's not a secret that Highsmith was a peculiar and rather complicated woman with a fixation for murder paired with an odd fascination for weaponry. Murray-Smith presents her as a bitter, elderly lady with psychopathic tendencies.

Her unpleasantness is counterbalanced by Edward's overly sweet and lamb-like initial attitude, with three-quarters of the piece revolving around Highsmith's being offensive and rude to the boy. It takes too long for Finlay's character's real game to seep through his naïve optimism and youth before ultimately taking the lead and turning the situation upside down.

Logan's delivery of the racist, xenophobic, politically incorrect, and generally awful author is impeccable, to the point where one hopes something happens to her so that her mean spirits stop dispersing malice and spite. Even though compelling performances are delivered by the actors, Murray-Smith pens a slow and quite inactive text.

Albeit Switzerland being publicised as a psychological thriller itself, there's no tension being built in the least until the very last 20 minutes. Per contra, there's an extensive lack of substance in favour of comical one-liners stemming from Highsmith's nastiness and a lot of irreverence (which, however, show the potential of Murray-Smith's wit).

Any play with no progression but at the very end that runs at 95 minutes with no interval could definitely do with killing some darlings for the benefit of pace and snappiness. Switzerland lives off the talent of its actors, who manage not to lose their audience in the meaningless roundabouts of the script while they wait for the inevitable finally to happen.

William Dudley's uninspired set doesn't help. The low points are thin panels printed as images of Renaissance-like statues of naked women stuck to the upstage wall and the curious layout of Highsmith's house itself. Tall, open windows (in cold and snowy Switzerland!) that allow the characters to hear each other when they talk are placed high up to tower on two sides.

Non-visible stairs hidden behind the back wall lead up to the top floor, allowing Edward to have various Psycho-like moments on Highsmith while he walks up and down. Weaponry, an obsession of hers, is displayed everywhere, turning the room into an armoury of sorts.

Besides being rather shoddy here and there (the bookshelf appears to have two cheap masks glued on its upper corners...), the set design doesn't bring anything special even when paired with Chris Davey's dull lighting design. Perhaps too big a space, it fails to heighten any kind of hint of suspense.

The show does recover at the end, with Finlay topping his sharp performance with a chilling turnaround. The path of his character is certainly confusing but the actor's skills are a joy to witness, albeit very briefly. All in all, Switzerland is a baffling play that does, however, sport top-billed performances.

Switzerland runs at Ambassadors Theatre until 5 January, 2019

Photo credit: Nobby Clark

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