The perfect crime is in mind with Rope, now playing at the Bondi Pavilion Theatre from its new resident theatre company, the Tamarama Rock Surfers. The noir drama features fear, tension and an introductory scene involving nudity, violence and murder by rope. Granillo (Anthony Gooley) and Brandon (Anthony Gee) conspire to murder and conceal the corpse in a chest that serves as a dining table for a dinner party that night. The victim turns out to be the son of one of several guests invited for the occasion. The couple killed for vanity and amusement, but predictably, the rest of the play concerns their nervous desperation to avoid discovery. In this preview show, the moral dilemma wasn’t entirely convincing and the climax a bit wanting, but there is good value in the dinner party scenes. Kenneth (Gig Clarke), a jolly good chap, and Leila (Sarah Snook), his female equivalent, enjoy not-so-witty but nevertheless hilarious repartee. Josh Quong Tart plays Rupert, a gloomy poet turned detective for the evening. Direction by Iain Sinclair is solid, as are the actors, the décor and costumes evocative of England between the wars.
Until June 25, Bondi Pavilion Theatre, Queen Elizabeth Dr, Bondi Beach, $21-33, 8019 0282, rocksurfers.org
BY OLGA AZAR
