Drama involving a rope (5)
I believe the answer is:
opera
'drama' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'involving a rope' is the wordplay.
'involving' is an anagram indicator.
'a'+'rope'='arope'
'arope' is an anagram of 'OPERA'.
(Other definitions for opera that I've seen before include "La Scala production, perhaps" , "Music and drama production" , "art form" , "some theatrics" , "Verdi work?" .)