'Switzerland' is a poised and polished new QTC production inspired by the work of crime writer Patricia Highsmith and featuring the author as the central character.
Nominally it is a fictional imagining of Highsmith's self-imposed seclusion in 'Switzerland' and her last days dealing with terminal illness. But like an Escher image of impossible staircases, it repeatedly draws us into one reality only to require an entirely different perspective.
In it playwright Joanna Murray-Smith has created not only a self-contained world allowing her to explore a wealth of themes around identity, death and the artistic process, but also a fabulous and complex lead female role portrayed with precise artistry by Andrea Moor.
We open to observe the wonderful set. Someone, we assume Highsmith, is off to the side, her back to us, typing. The room is simple and evocative: it is modern, fairly sparse but with some warmth, perfectly clean and organised. A very particular space that we will learn reflects and enables its scrupulous owner.
A slightly shambolic young man enters opposite. So assured is Highsmith in her world that he is almost dismissed without a glance on account of his lateness. Although Ridgeway, a representative of her publishers, is evidently nervous, he is not put off easily and the game of cat and mouse begins.
As Highsmith turns to engage with him we meet a meticulously presented older American woman in slacks, pressed cream blouse, colour co-ordinated accessories and with not a hair out of place. She is evidently not impressed by the actions of the publishing house, his lateness, appearance or personality and doesn't spare him. His attempts to suggest he can help her, that he understands her as a writer and gets her work, are received as rude and arrogant, and she takes him down a peg or two him, but generally in a wry and impassive manner.
Highsmith is a beautifully written part, full of wit, often sardonic but sometimes light and occasionally self-deprecatory. She seems simultaneously warm and callous as she picks that Ridgeway is an orphan and gets him to talk of his parents' death. However his open submission to her questioning increases his worth for Highsmith, revealing a chink in her rejection. She urges him to step into his pain and the interesting discussions begin.
Moor uses the script to full effect and brings the audience a fully-fleshed, tough but human Highsmith, her whims and concerns concealed and revealed as she vacillates in her desire to write another acclaimed 'Ripley' murder.
Ridgeway, too, is a complex character and provides a great counterpoint to Highsmith. Matthew Backer, seems initially the less convincing (maybe by design). However he grows into the role as Ridgeway himself grows in self-belief and gives a great performance. Both are actively supported in their characterisation by excellent direction of movement, gesture, by the set and even costume. When Ridgeway enters the next day he has survived Highsmith's first challenge (no spoilers) and his dress and demeanour embody his emerging confidence. The lighting and excellent music also develop throughout the course of the play and move skilfully through the action.
'Switzerland' covers a remarkable number of themes: The relationship of suffering to great art, of action in fiction to acting in the real world, of destruction to love. Not to mention American and European identity, the attraction of murder as supreme power over life and death, and much more. What is immensely impressive is that it does all this in the natural course of the action without seeming contrived or pretentious and in a hugely entertaining way.
The shifting sands of life and death or life and fiction can be rich and amusing in the hands of great writers and executed with great stage-craft.
Kate Byrne
★★★★1/4
'Switzerland' performs the Bille Brown Studio until 26 June.
