By Mikayla Van Loon
With the darkness and coldness of winter, it seems only fitting that the Lilydale Athenaeum Theatre Company would bring to the stage something just as frosty.
Opening on Thursday 29 June and running until Saturday 15 July, is the Joanna Murray-Smith thriller, come comedy, Switzerland.
Director Helen Ellis said while initially she wanted to produce The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith, instead it was suggested to show the life of the woman herself who was truly one of a kind.
“She was a pretty famous novelist and quite possibly one of the most difficult and unusual and controversial and creepy women. She was notorious for being confrontational and challenging,” Ellis said.
While the play is, of course, fictional, it depicts certain true elements of Highsmith’s life, like her move to Switzerland.
The play follows two people, Highsmith and a young man who comes to coerce her into writing one more Mr Ripley novel before she dies.
“She’s really terrible to deal with. In fact, she’s scared people away before. She collects knives, guns, and snails. But at the same time, in her era, she was possibly one of the few female novelists.
“So the story is this cat and mouse story. It is about her intimidating him. It is a thriller to a degree but it’s got a fair bit of humor in it.”
With Angela Glennie and Travis Handcock cast as the duo to portray this dynamic, complex and interesting depiction of a renowned author, Ellis said they have done a brilliant job in bringing the characters to life.
“[They] have worked really, really hard, because they are really complex characters and there’s a huge amount of dialogue. It’s very witty and clever.
“They’ve managed to create an amazing chemistry as well. There’s moments in there where you really, really like them and then there’s other times where you go ‘I don’t like this’.”
For Ellis, who has mostly leaned towards romantic comedies and other lighthearted pieces, she has found an enjoyment out of directing something within the thriller genre but more so because of the talented writing of Murray-Smith.
“The way she’s written it, it’s pretty incredible. There’s a lot in there and I always like plays where I can find some humor in it regardless of how dark it is and this has a fair bit of humor to it but it’s just clever wordsmithing,” she said.
“Then trying to capture all that darkness as well from the suspenseful moments is pretty exciting.”
When selecting a play to direct, Ellis said she looks for the most well written script because that is the basis of a good production.
“For me, any play you should be able to do with just the actors, if the story is good enough, you should just be able to do it with the actors on stage and nothing around them.
“What I enjoy the most is the story and the acting and the telling of the story. So everything else serves the play.”
To book tickets for Switzerland, go to lilydaleatc.com/season-2023
