Rope is set within the warped cognition of the two murderers Brandon and Granillo. The
ordinary items of their Baroque style house they recently inherited; from the paintings on
the walls, to the chest, to the books on the tables have been transformed into a
nightmarish wonderland esc game of information overload. As the duo grapples with
both flaunting enough information to the guests at the dinner party for Brandon to take
joy in the act of murder, but also struggling to keep the explosion of all the information
around them contained to prevent any of the guests from catching on, and to prevent
themselves from getting hanged.
This set design is specifically set within a warped cognition of the two murders
because that is where the stakes of the play are the highest. Within the minds of the
murders. With the murders (that now as we see repeatly emphasized through Granillo’s
anxiety) having to repeatly grapple with all the consequences that they have committed
the most heinous and insidious act a member of society can commit, which is that of
murder.
The world around them and the murder they have committed has consumed
them. The outside world seen through the window now flashes with paintings that once
hung on the walls of their outside. With a never-moving clock serving as an additional
reminder that there is truly no escape for this hellscape.
The walls are now adorned with what literature symbols of Brandon’s younger
days of reading books about murder which while not driving his objective to commit
murder what was what provided him with the technique he needed in the first place.
With the particular writings that have been scribbled on the wall both establish a thread
of connection to the aforementioned paintings and to the marital connection between
Brandon and Granillo. These symbols have additional manifested in the wonderland
warping of the library that duo had recently come into melting into the floor.
Outlines of dead bodies littered throughout the floor which only Brandon and
Granillo are aware of serve as constant reminders of what truly lies just feet away
instead of the truck. With the truck itself initially curved and warped as a beaconing to
see the duo’s bloody prize that lies inside. The murder victim itself. While not rotting
away at this stage in the game as the duo had only committed murder recently still
serves as a grotesque image of what is really going on.
Ideally this would be countered with the casting of actors in the roles of Brandon
and Granillo who bring a likeability and charm to the characters though that is more of a
directorial decision than a set design one so that the audience is really forced to
question the ethics behind death and the killing of living beings.
