About

In this harrowing suspense thriller, the arrogant Wyndham Brandon persuades his weak-minded friend Charles Granillo to assist him in the murder of a perfectly harmless young man to prove his intellectual superiority – for the mere sake of adventure, danger and the “fun of the thing.” They place the body in a wooden chest and to add spice to their handiwork, they invite a few acquaintances, including the dead man’s father, to a party. The chest with its gruesome contents serves as a supper table.

As the evening progresses, the two murderers become increasingly erratic, suspicions grow, light-hearted chit-chat turns to verbal sparring that threatens to unlock the secret stashed in the centre of the room… Will they get away with it?

Patrick Hamilton’s Rope was inspired by the real-life 1924 Leopold and Loeb murder case in Chicago, translating the story to London. First published and produced in 1929, Rope was subsequently filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1948 and remains to this day one of the classics of the thriller genre.

Age suitability - 11+