When crime happens out of boredom

Imagine a scenario where at a dinner party the host has just killed an aquaintance and later invites the relatives and friends of the deceased to treat them to some sumptuous food? Seems both bizzare and eerie simultaneously.

The above mentioned sequence is out of a play titled The Room, a contemporary adaptation of Patrick Hamilton’s The Rope [1929].

‘Rope is a 1929 British play by Patrick Hamilton. In formal terms, it is a play with a three-act dramatic structure that adheres to the classical unities. Its action is continuous, punctuated only by the curtain fall at the end of each act. It may also be considered a thriller whose gruesome subject matter invites comparison with

The Room at multitude levels,’ says Vikramjit Sinha, director.

The 60 minute play was presented by Kalasmriti Productions with a number of seasoned performers like Farhad Colabavala, Zain Khan, Panchali Dutta, Anasuya Agarwala, Anuradha Khera and Arjun Khera on Thursday.

‘The underlying idea is how certain crimes just come out of boredom. The play were a narration of numerous stories weaved around the deceased, who is dead but still lives through its monologue. The story angle is from the mouth of the victim,’ says Arjun Khera, who played the role of Varun.

The play explores the things which happen and takes one on the road of a thrilling discovery about the crime. The play has a striking resemblance to real-life incidents of the BMW hit and run case or the Jessica Lall murder. ‘In a way, how the possible reaction of the crime which is so deep rooted and occurs unconcsiously is based on the great divide in terms of money and power,’ remarked Arjun.

The Rope took almost one and a half months to conceptualise and execute. ‘The idea was to take out something gruesome which would bring out jitters among the audience. The reality could be gauged on how audience reacted. Many did not want the criminal to get uncovered as they related to the play to their real life events,’ concluded Arjun.