- Rope (play)
"Rope" is a 1929 British
stage play by Patrick Hamilton. It is a thriller whose gruesome subject matter has been likened to theGrand Guignol style of theatre.It was first presented by the Repertory Players at the Strand Theatre,
London , on3 March 1929 . The first West End production was at theAmbassadors Theatre on25 April 1929 . Retitled "Rope's End", the play opened on Broadway at theJohn Golden Theatre , then still named the Theatre Masque, on13 September 1929 . The play was published as "Rope's End" bySamuel French Inc. in 1933.The setting is an apartment in
Mayfair , London, in the 1920s. The story, based loosely on theLeopold and Loeb murder case, is about two students, Wyndham Brandon and Charles Granillo (whom Brandon calls "Granno" for short), who murder fellow student Ronald Kentley as an expression of their supposed intellectual superiority.The setting was transferred to 1940s
New York , and the names of the murderers were changed to Brandon Shaw and Philip Morgan, inAlfred Hitchcock 's 1948 film version. The victim's name was changed to David Kentley, but the film's title reverted back to the original "Rope". (In fact, the names of all the characters, except for Rupert Cadell, were changed in the film.) This is, so far, the only film version of the play.External links
* [http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=10926 "Rope's End" at Internet Broadway Database]
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