Patricia Highsmith underwent psychoanalysis in an effort "to regularize herself sexually" so she could marry Brandel. The analysis was brought to a stop by Highsmith, after which she ended her relationship with him. After ending her engagement to Marc Brandel, she had an affair with psychoanalyst Kathryn Hamill Cohen, the wife of British publisher Dennis Cohen and founder of Cresset Press, which later published "Strangers on a Train". To help pay for the twice-a-week therapy sessions, Highsmith had taken a sales job during Christmas rush season in the toy section of Bloomingdale's department store. Ironically, it was during this attempt to "cure"
Phyllis Nagy Royal Court Theatre in January 1998, in a co-production with "The Foundry"; and "The Talented Mr. Ripley", adapted from the novel by Patricia Highsmith which premiered at the Watford Palace Theatre, in October 1998, and later produced by the Melbourne Theatre Company in February 1999. Her version of Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull" was produced at Chichester Festival Theatre in the summer of 2003. In 2005, Nagy directed a production of "The Scarlet Letter" at the same venue. Nagy wrote the screenplay for "Carol", an adaption of the 1952 Patricia Highsmith novel "The Price of Salt" (later republished under the title