Thriller "ROPE" Sells Out
- Presidential Productions
- Feb 20, 2016
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 15
ROPE Strikes Chord with Perth Fringe Audiences
What happens when a theatre company bets everything on silence, stillness, and suggestion? For Presidential Productions, the answer is clear: sell-out success.
The independent company’s debut production of ROPE — a tense, stripped-back psychological thriller directed by James Cunningham — has officially sold out its entire run at the 2016 Perth Fringe Festival. The announcement follows a string of packed performances and overwhelmingly positive audience reception.
“We never expected the word to spread like it did,” said Cunningham in a closing night statement. “This was a modest production. No set changes. No gimmicks. Just dialogue, actors, and a secret. That’s what drew people in.”
ROPE was never going to be a typical Fringe show. Based on the 1929 play by Patrick Hamilton (and famously adapted by Alfred Hitchcock in 1948), the story follows two university students who commit a murder, hide the body in a chest, and then host a drinks party with the victim’s friends and family.
But what Presidential Productions brought to the piece was something wholly original: a Perth-based, modern-day reinterpretation performed in a minimalist black box space. There were no accents. No antique décor. Just a wooden chest, a handful of chairs, and the uncomfortable closeness of a real-time event unfolding before the audience’s eyes.
“It was like watching a crime happen in your mate’s living room,” said one attendee. “There was no distance. You were part of it.”
Though ROPE didn’t enter Fringe with a flashy marketing campaign or media blitz, it quickly gained momentum through word-of-mouth. Audiences praised the show’s sense of unease, clever pacing, and raw, unfiltered performances.
The cast — which included Benjamin Pentony, Stewart Sant, Matthew Panegyres, Rowland van Zwol, and Sandy Hunter — was particularly praised for its ensemble discipline and chemistry.
According to Cunningham, rehearsal time was spent not only on line delivery, but on spatial tension: how the actors moved around the infamous chest, how they touched props, when they chose not to speak. “We focused on what wasn’t being said. That’s what makes this play a thriller,” he explained.
The production’s decision to keep the set bare proved pivotal.
Performed in a blank, black-painted rehearsal room with basic lighting and folding chairs, the aesthetic helped isolate the audience’s attention. A single large Esky sat in the centre of the stage — simple, functional, and quietly terrifying.
“That Esky became its own character,” Cunningham said. “It sat there silently accusing everyone on stage.”
The only other major pieces were a coffee table, a few mobile phones, and a drink tumbler — all easily sourced, yet placed with precision. Everything had intention. Nothing distracted.
ROPE marks Presidential Productions’ first outing at Perth Fringe — Now, with the success of ROPE, the team is already being asked what comes next. There are currently no plans to remount ROPE, but the demand for an encore is there. Whether it returns or not, one thing is certain — audiences in Perth have taken notice.
⭐ ROPE performed at Murdoch University as part of FRINGE WORLD Perth 2014, for a strictly limited season. More information via fringeworld.com.au or our website.
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