Two young thrill seekers and sadists get their comeuppance in British playwright Patrick Hamilton’s 1929 play. Hamilton loosely based his play (later adapted for the screen by Alfred Hitchcock in 1948) on the American murder case, Leopold and Loeb.

The setting is an apartment in Mayfair, London in the 1920’s. Young undergraduate Brandon wants excitement at any price. He cajoles his weak minded friend, Granillo, to assist him in the murder of a fellow undergraduate, Ronald Raglan. They are convinced that they have committed the perfect crime. In a show of bravado they place Raglan’s body in a wooden chest and invite some acquaintances, including the dead man’s own father, to a dinner party where the wooden chest and its grisly contents serve as the supper table.

It’s a sick world that is portrayed, akin to something like an earlier version of Oliver Stone’s 1994 film, starring Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis, about thrill killers, ‘Natural Born Killers’.

For audiences the main journey involves seeing the downhill journey that Brandon and Granillo go on. They start with blustery over-confidence, and then go on to oscillate between hope, despair and outright panic.

This current revival, directed by Adrian Barnes, was average fare. Owen Little and Christopher Sellers gave satisfying performances in the leading roles. Matt Butcher was the cast’s stand-out as the quick and deep thinking Rupert Cadell. Shannon Rae Kappes pitched her performance too high as the snooty Leila Arden.

Simon Greer’s finely detailed classic period set, Anna Gardiner’s great 1920’s costumes and Michelle Rendell’s atmospheric lighting were production highlights.

A Zenith Theatre and Bump In production, Patrick Hamilton’s ‘Rope’ opened at the Zenith theatre, corner Railway and McIntosh streets, Chatswood on Thursday 7th October and runs till Saturday 16th October, 2010.