Joanna Murray-Smith Photo: Supplied
Following seasons in Australia and Poneke at Circa Theatre, celebrated Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith’s Switzerland has landed in Tamaki Makaurau with the Auckland Theatre Company.
Switzerland is based on the life of real-life best-selling American writer, Patricia Highsmith, whose works include The Talented Mr Ripley and Strangers on a Train. Starring Sarah Peirse as Highsmith, it’s a psychological thriller, just like a would-be written by Highsmith herself. Yet now, she’s the story.
Switzerland Photo: Supplied
A complicated, difficult and abrasive Highsmith is living in the Swiss Alps in her final years, battling lung cancer in solitude, until a young man turns up on her doorstep (Jarred Blakiston). He’s been sent by her New York publishing firm in an attempt to persuade her to write one final Ripley novel. His arrival sets in motion a suspenseful game of cat and mouse.
Joanna Murray-Smith has been in New Zealand for the opening night and speaks to Culture 101’s Perlina about watching her own work on stage.
