THEY WERE YOUNG privileged students of law. Heady with an irrepressible sense of rebellion. And another of half-adult understanding of the ‘what-ifs’ in this world. They were fuelled by the writings of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche on the idea of the superior man. This was Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb. And theirs was the story that was mooted by the media of the time as ‘the crime of the century’; a story given exceptional life by playwright Stephen Dolginoff. Under the directorial hand of Chris Weare, it’s a mesmerising work onstage until Sunday 30 March 2025 at the Pieter Toerien Theatre, Montecasino.

Resonant with the philosophy that underpins British rock band Queen’s quintessential song, Bohemian Rhapsody and in turn, Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s 1866 novel Crime and Punishment, pondering what it would feel like to take another’s life, this true story aroused the pen of Alfred Hitchcock in his 1948 film, Rope. With young performers, John Conrad and Gianluca Gironi at its helm, the story told onstage in Johannesburg is no less compelling and potent.

Featuring choreography contrived beautifully in its simplicity and violence, the spectacle of the performance is witty and crisp, simultaneously. Their story of crime for the egotistic thrill of it is morally horrendous, but their performances so impeccable, you can’t take your eyes from its unfolding horror.

But it’s also a perfectly conceived work. With a stage stripped naked of niceties, with just a piano, a series of vertical bars and a raised dais, we are taken back to the early 1920s – it’s now 34 years later and a hapless Leopold (Conrad) is speaking to the parole board – and an understanding of power articulated between two young men.

The sexual energy is palpable, as is the sense of slippery trustworthiness. The stakes are ramped up all the way. Immorality is central to the debate. And with an Underwood typewriter, wing-tipped shoes and a 1920s sense of pizzazz, it is, of course, also a musical featuring lyrics written with murderous clarity and a sense of internal rhyme that evoke works of the ilk of Kander and Ebb’s Chicago. This is the kind of suave understanding of seduction and power that you may have missed seeing in the recent production of A Picture of Dorian Gray, in this city.

While the lighting does at times strike the audience directly in the eye, there are moments where the lighting in tandem with language and movement achieves true greatness, lifting the spectacle to a sinister monochrome in the face of the greatest sin that one human being can perpetrate against another. Balance is also achieved in the movements of the performers and how the story unfolds, making it satisfying on the eye, the ear and the mind. Indeed, directorially and in terms of design, this is a stark and brave, but potent understanding of drama.

The performers – including Jaco Griessel on the piano toward the back of the stage – represent an understanding of collaboration and storytelling which surpasses their youth with sophistication. During the performance on which this review is premised, technical flaws interrupted the flow of the work, including problems with the Lavalier mics not always behaving. This young cast took these challenges in their stride, realising a tale that was so flawlessly told that by the work’s denouement, the disruption was forgotten.

The story is deliciously evil, but given that it’s based on fact, it lends a special kind of horror to our understanding of it. The kind of horror that makes you look at road accidents, or that made British toddler James Bulger into some kind of a contemporary celebrity in 1993, because he was brutally killed by two teenaged boys, for no apparent reason. And there are many such stories that dot our landscape of being in the world. And many such understandings of power that lose their hold on basic moral values.

Thrill Me is an excellent production with hairpin bends that will have the hair on the back of your neck standing upright for much of it. The season is sadly brief, but well worth changing whatever plans you may have for this weekend.

Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story is written by Stephen Dolginoff based on the true story of the murder of a child in 1924. It is directed by Chris Weare, produced by Pieter Toerien, stage managed by Sarah Wolhuter, and features creative input by Jaco Griessel (musical direction), Ande Gibson (set) and Luke Ellenbogen (lighting). Performed by John Conrad, Gianluca Gironi and Jaco Griessel (on piano), it is onstage at the Pieter Toerien Theatre, Montecasino in Fourways, until 30 March 2025.