"The Rope" silently warns of the crime that cannot be hidden

It is an issue that has gained even greater weight in the current circumstances: the relationship of young people with power and the feeling of superiority. The slide towards crime in the play “The Rope”, with a text by Patrick Hamilton, directed by Skender Podvorica, premiered at the National Theater of Kosovo, does not come as a result of extreme circumstances, but as a product of a deformed philosophy of being “smarter”, “braver”, “higher than the other”. This reflection has resonated in the discussions that are often held about the constraints, confusions and mistakes of young people in the Kosovar reality, making the play a kind of silent warning

In the center, a black box stands as the axis of the drama, motionless and threatening, while around it a celebration that has kept the characters' darkest secret beneath the surface. On the stage of the National Theater of Kosovo, the evening of the premiere of "The Rope" has unfolded a solid space, built on restrained tension, where every object seems to have added weight.

Patrick Hamilton's drama, written about a century ago, has come to this premiere by director Skender Podvorica as a mirror that builds a bridge between eras, between the moment when two teenagers commit a murder to prove their superiority and today, when the delusions of imagined power have become a common form of challenge for young people.

This evening, events are set to unfold slowly, fueling the tension with long silences and details that only become clear when the actors push the pace towards discovery.

Brandon and Granillo, the central characters, have hidden their friend's body in a crate that they transform into a dinner table for the guests. By "placing" the crime under the plates and glasses, in a supposedly peaceful environment, the play shows the moral collapse of two young people who go to extremes to feel their importance. The guests move on stage with a worried calm, while their former professor notices the details that do not match and connects the pieces of a story that hangs throughout the play. The tension beats under the skin, rising until the epilogue where the crime is revealed in front of the one who was once the moral authority of the two.

The scene opens with a silence that does not last long, because the silence begins to take on a threatening shape as soon as the box that will keep the crime hidden appears. Wyndham Brandon, played by Allmir Suhodolli, and Charles Granillo, played by Valmir Krasniqi, emerge from the darkness with a kind of controlled momentum, immediately creating the feeling that something has been done moments before the audience sits down in their chairs. Their movements are sharp, urgent and strange, quiet at the same time, as if they want to perform the ritual of concealment before anyone else realizes what is hidden under the box lid.

The atmosphere is built with low lighting and a subdued atmosphere, while the stage space functions as a room that is waiting for guests, but which is still “unheated”, still rigid. It is an introduction that places the crime as a starting point, not as a climax, and that makes the audience search for the reason for what has happened before being sent towards the internal conflict of the drama.

In his directorial approach, Skender Podvorica has created a controlled choreography of emotions, where silence has had as much function as words. For him, the process has been one of the most complete artistic experiences in this institution.

"It has been one of the most enjoyable and best processes I have ever experienced. As a young director, it is the first time for me to make a play at the National Theatre and that it is its product. The reason why I chose 'Rope' is because of the relevance of this play, even though it was written in 1920, it is still relevant and speaks about the feeling that people have when they think they have power over the lives of others," he said after the performance.

Gradually increasing the tension that begins to spread in the room where the guests arrive one by one, the two protagonists oscillate between false calm and inner nervousness, while the first dialogues create the first fog of doubts. The party begins to take shape, ordinary conversations, jokes, light movements through the space but, above all, the presence of the crate that transforms into the table where the food is served. With each approach of the characters to it, the audience feels how the space between crime and discovery decreases. The professor is enough for a few observations to question the young people's versions, and from that moment the drama moves at an increased pace towards the cracking of the masks, until the lie begins to crack and the mystery begins to take full shape.

The concept is built on a kind of sustained tension that does not allow for emotional detachment. Podvorica has aimed to keep the audience within the circle where the characters enjoy, forget, enjoy themselves, and then fall back into the weight of the crime they have hidden.

"We have tried as much as possible to maintain the tension and emotions so that the audience also feels the presence and until the end does not understand the feeling of crime. There are moments when perhaps it is forgotten that inside this ark is a corpse, because of the pleasure that the characters experience. In the end it is a kind of boomerang for the audience as well, in case we are faced with such cases and how much we talk about these cases", he added.

In the actors' performance, nuances are of particular importance, with an interpretation focused on the characters' unhealthy self-confidence. Actor Suhodolli has revealed that he has held the text in his hands for a long time, waiting for the moment of its realization.

"I've had this script in my hand for quite some time... I've been looking forward to this role. There were times when I was disappointed, because it was being postponed and I thought it wouldn't be done. When we finally found out that it was being done, I was very happy, because I've been looking forward to this role, even though I didn't create it earlier, because I wanted to leave it to the director to see how he would deliver the role," he said.

Alongside him is Valmir Krasniqi, who played the role of Granillo, a figure who wanders between conviction, fear, and internal explosions. For him, the role required careful emotional selection.

"The role was quite challenging for me, because there are so many colors... there are so many colors, that I had to select what I was putting in it, so that it was neither too little nor too much," he said. He also shared his experience with Podvorica.

"Extremely professional, extremely clear in the idea of ​​what he wanted to do and didn't leave us confused about where the show was going," he added.

At the end of the play, the pace quickens and the tension reaches its peak as soon as the professor of the two young men puts the pieces of the puzzle together and realizes what is hidden inside the box. The confrontation that follows does not need loud voices: their rigidity, the collapse of self-confidence and the panic that spreads on stage are enough. He gives a name to the crime, confronts them with responsibility and curses them for the act they have committed, while the drama closes not with a solution, but with a cold pause where the moral consequences remain in suspense. The confrontation does not bring retribution, but delayed awareness and the play ends with a silence that weighs on the stage and the audience, making it clear that the crime, even when hidden, cannot escape exposure.

Other roles include: Shkelzen Veseli in the role of the two murderers' former professor, Rupert Cadell, Arta Selimi in the role of guest Leila Arden, Rrezon Zhinipotoku in the role of other guest Kenneth Raglan, Selman Lokaj in the role of Sir Johnstone Kentley, the victim's father, Lumnije Sopi in the role of his father's sister, and Semira Latifi in the role of the maid.

The scenography is dense in detail, but open in perception. The ark is given a dual function: object of crime and object of celebration, a symbolism that has long remained on the stage. The lights are used to create internal rhythms, dividing the evening into zones of tension and false calm. In the spaces between movements, the audience often remained silent, feeling the waves of tension that slowly built up towards the end.

Thematically, “The Rope” explores an issue that has gained even greater weight in the current circumstances: the relationship of young people with power and the sense of superiority. The slide towards crime in the drama is not presented as a consequence of extreme circumstances, but as a product of a deformed philosophy of being “smarter”, “braver”, “higher than the other”. This reflection has resonated in the discussions that are often held about the constraints, confusions and mistakes of young people in the Kosovar reality, making the play a kind of silent warning.

The play is part of the National Theatre's new season, as the second and third productions for this year, and is expected to be followed by "Gërdia" and "Nyja e Gidionit". With "Rope", the institution has shown a tendency towards texts that articulate deep moral dilemmas, interweaving classical aesthetics with a dense stage approach that touches even the youngest audience.