Is there such a thing as a perfect murder? For more than just good friends Lewis and Brandon, long standing companions, they are pretenious enough and sure of themselves and their cleverness, to believe that they can and do have the skills and the intellect to do just that: kill a supposed good friend Ronald and glory is the execution. After all, they have no motive, they’ve left no clues, wiped clean every fingerprint, distanced themselves from the victim, and now they have the gall to invite all of Ronald’s intimates like his father, his fiancee and his friends to a dinner party to celebrate their crowning achievement. What chutzpah! What superiority! What naive arrogance!
Come exercise your detective skills in a delightful effectiveness at the scene of the crime where a Mayfair flat in the late 1920’s is the lovely setting by Riw Rakkulchon. Smugly Lewis and Brandon place the crustless sandwiches and choices of beverage on a chest, into which they have secured the body of the deceased guest of honor. Hartford Stage has taken the play “Rope's End" by Patrick Hamilton penned in 1929, skillfully had it adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher as “Rope” as a world premiere and graced it with Melia Bensussen’s sophisticated direction, until Sunday, November 2 for your excellent entertainment.
Ephraim Birney’s Lewis and Daniel Neale’s Brandon are just too clever and confident for their own good. They enjoy dropping clues about poor Ronald who has yet to appear at their little soiree. Actually he is there, in the chest, but as a private joke only the two provocators can enjoy. Ronald’s dad, James Riordan, catches his wife’s anxiety about their son’s whereabouts after a series of her frantic phone calls. Ronald’s fiancee, Fiona Robberson’s Meriel, is clearly harboring secrets about her relationship. Mark Benninghofen’s Rupert feels he is accumulating clues about Ronald’s disappearance due to his superior intellect and familiarity with mysteries while Nick Saxton’s Kenneth may be aspiring to be Ronald’s lover even though Meriel disdainfully dismisses him as boring.
Will this charming evening unmask the murderers? Is the murder just a joke, a killing for pleasure? Is Rupert as skilled in cloak and dagger tales as his writing of mysteries suggests?
For tickets ($20-115), call the Hartford Stage, 50 Church Street, Hartford at 860-527-5151 or online at HartfordStage.org. Performances are Tuesday to Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m.and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. There is a 2 p.m. matinee on Wednesday, October 29.
Will this room full of sinners escape the storm and survive the evening without ever learning the truth about the victim and the piece of rope so conveniently handy to squeeze out his love of games? Will logic or lies win the prize?
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