The Mix, Theatr Clwyd, Yr Wyddgrug/Mold – until 20 July 2024
Reviewed by Julie Noller
5*****
Rope might be originally written in 1920s by Patrick Hamilton, but Director Francesca Goodridge has given this dark crime thriller with mildly amusing comic undertones the Theatr Clwyd Midas touch. Bringing to life a play that Hitchcock himself brought to the silver screen in the late 1940’s the irony that this connection of world wars (written just after the first and filmed just after the second) is not lost on me. Francesca’s hope for her audience is that we take away a version of Rope that we weren’t expecting. My thoughts are that we take away so many versions, its thought provoking, each character is fully rounded and full of hidden depths; many of which are fascinating. We enter The Mix into a darkly lit set, the stage is almost touching the front row; it’s intimate, because we are part and parcel of the evenings proceedings. We are accomplices yet also witnesses. The only light is a central swinging light bulb which curiously throws its shade to the curtain behind giving the appearance of 2 nooses looming warning of consequences yet to happen. Rope is a murder mystery with a twist, in the darkness we hear hushed voices, we squint into this darkness and although you don’t see the actual crime of murder it is hinted at, often with hysterics the details are drip fed to us.
The heavy object hidden inside the antique chest, obviously isn’t a rug, but we are yet to discover the whos and whys. Jack Hammett and Chirag Benedict Lobo are Wyndham Brandon and Charles Granillo two Oxford students currently living in Mayfair, they are deliciously dark and twisted. In times times gone by they would be misunderstood, neighbours scared of their misogynist vibes, old money covering misdemeanours; keeping the lower ends of society in their places. Hamilton was heavily influenced by the true life crimes of Chicago teenagers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb in 1924 and I’m not sure if I see many films influenced by the same case or is Hamilton a genius whose work has heavily influenced. This isn’t an Agatha Christie murder who done it, we know who carried out the random act, this is about personalities deep and dark. It’s a cat and mouse chase of almost childish proportions a nah nah nah can’t catch me, you don’t know what we did.
Only without trying our fellow party guests almost accidentally stumble upon the truth. Emily Burnett is dazzling as Leila Arden painted as a airhead heiress, yet it is her who firsts suggests the chest contains the rotting bones of a dead body. Kenneth Raglan (Rhys Warrington) is the patsy, a fellow Oxford attendee, younger, assumed dull, bullied, just making up the numbers. Keiron Self as Sir Johnstone Kentley the father of the rotting bones, a collector of books, a gentleman who sees no faults in these 2 genteel young men, even as they push buttons begging to be discovered. His sister Mrs Debenham (Emily Pithon) who along with Felipe Pacheco’s Sabot the boys trusted manservant brought many comic touches to the proceedings.
In Tim Pritchett’s World War 1 veteran and lecturer; Rupert Cadell we sense the first sight of logic but his theories are clouded by the large amount of whiskey he consumes, he is the character who not only feels there has been a crime committed but is a father figure whom Wyndham longs to impress and ultimately is his undoing, once a War hero always a hero.
The choreographed party drinking scenes give the impression of the many drinks drunk, the time warp sense of lost moments, the depravity of a problematic entitled young man. And it ends with everything totally undone, the walls ripped down giving the impression that despite the old system holding firm, eventually barriers and walls all fall down along with covering up a murder.