A remote study based high in the Alps of Switzerland is the setting of this taut and tense thriller play, starring Phyllis Logan as author Patricia Highsmith.

Painting a portrait of Highsmith, the world-class writer of famous novels including The Talented Mr Ripley, Strangers On A Train and The Price Of Salt, Switzerland first premiered in Australia  in 2015, where it won Best New Australian Work at the Sydney Theatre Awards. It subsequently played at Theatre Royal Bath’s Ustinov Studio in Summer 2018 to critical acclaim, and now transfers to the West End.

In 1995, high in the Swiss Alps, the queen of the thriller herself, Patricia Highsmith (Logan), hides away in her study surrounded by her collections of books and antique weaponry. Ailing and ageing, she finds solace in the form of her seclusion, her cats and her cigarettes.

But that all changes when a charming young man appears at her door, sent by her New York publisher. He’s there to convince Highsmith to pen one final instalment of her best-selling Tom Ripley series… but as day breaks over the mountains, the stranger is revealed to have an altogether more sinister motivation.

BAFTA Award-winner Phyllis Logan (Patricia Highsmith) is well-known for her role as Mrs Hughes in ITV’s Downton Abbey and as Lady Jane Felsham in Lovejoy, while co-star Calum Finlay (Edward Ridgeway) recently appeared on the West End stage in the Almeida Theatre productions of Mary Stuart and Hamlet.

Switzerland is directed by Lucy Bailey (who also envisioned fellow murder mystery Witness For The Prosecution), while it is written by Joanna Murray-Smith, whose previous plays include Honour, Ridge’s Love and The Gift.

Filled with razor-sharp dialogue, this chilling and sometimes hilarious two-hander unfolds into a gripping psychological thriller.

So zip up your coat and enjoy a trip to Switzerland – where an award-winning psychological thriller awaits at the Ambassadors Theatre.