From playwriting icon Joanna Murray-Smith comes this ravishing adaptation of the twentieth century’s most glamorous thriller, The Talented Mr. Ripley, at the Roslyn Packer Theatre from 19 August 2025.
Following the triumphant successes of Switzerland and Julia, Murray-Smith reunites with director Sarah Goodes to masterfully transform this seductive page-turner into an electrifying, world-premiere stage experience.
Will McDonald (Heartbreak High) plays Tom Ripley, an orphan and a striver, barely scraping by in 1950s New York. But beneath his woebegone exterior, Tom cultivates certain talents that set him apart: an extraordinary capacity for mimicry and deception. He is a man with a face no-one remembers.
Whereas no one could forget Dickie Greenleaf (Raj Labade). He is everything Tom isn’t; confident, stylish, and heir to a large fortune. Tom is hired by Dickie’s father to bring his son home and so plunges him into a glittering world of luxury, beauty and hedonism on the Italian Riviera.
Intoxicated with this new social scene, Tom begins to fashion himself after his target. He begins dancing like Dickie, dressing like him, and drinking like him. Tom begins to imagine another version of himself. A better one… and he’ll kill for it.
Promising tension, passion and spectacular suspense, Will McDonald and Raj Labade are joined by Faisal Hamza, Andrew McFarlane, Johnny Nasser and Claude Scott-Mitchell. A powerhouse creative team includes Set Designer Elizabeth Gadsby, Costume Designer Emma White, Lighting Designer Damien Cooper, Composer and Sound Designer Steve Francis, Associate Sound Designer Madeleine Picard, Associate Directors Tait de Lorenzo & Kenneth Moraleda, Movement Director Charmene Yap, Fight Director Tim Dashwood and Intimacy Coordinator Chloë Dallimore.
“It’s remarkable how enduring the appeal of The Talented Mr. Ripley remains, 70 years after Patricia Highsmith first published her novel,” says director Sarah Goodes. “There’s something perennially intriguing about Tom Ripley, a character on the fringes, whose need for acceptance outweighs any moral code.”
“The stage is the perfect setting for such rich psychological material, his slippery identity, his shame and his cunning talent for impersonation. It’s a real privilege to unite once again with Joanna Murray-Smith and Sydney Theatre Company to bring the mercurial Tom Ripley to life with this outstanding cast and creative team.”
For 70 years Tom Ripley has captivated readers and cinephiles alike. Now, literature’s most alluring confidence man is brought to life before our eyes in the hands of one of our great playwrights and most brilliant directors.
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Roslyn Packer Theatre, 22 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay (Sydney)
Season: 25 August – 28 September 2025 (previews: 19 – 22 August)
Information and Bookings: www.sydneytheatre.com.au
Following the Sydney season, The Talented Mr. Ripley will be presented at Arts Centre Melbourne from 28 October – 23 November 2025.
Image: Will McDonald will star as Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley – photo by Derek Henderson