THE STORY: In Chicago in 1924, two brilliant university students, the sons of millionaires, kidnap a boy and kill him. They celebrate their “perfect crime” in a nightclub, with their girlfriends and a fraternity brother, who happens to be a reporter. Tracing of a pair of glasses dropped at the scene of the crime leads the reporter to an interrogation of the two “supermen” in a cat-and-mouse scene, in which they flaunt their extravagant ideas, but eventually entangle themselves. Their bizarre crime arouses a lynching fever, and, in the face of this, a humanitarian attorney fights for their lives. Questions of juvenile delinquency, capital punishment and psychiatric evidence are the subject of the courtroom battle. The struggle over the fate of the two boys is waged between the defense attorney, who believes that we are fallible creatures trapped in our mortal imperfections, and the prosecuting attorney who contends that all men must be held responsible for their actions and punished for their crimes, whatever the causes might be.
Adapted by the author from his bestselling novel. Dealing with the case of two young “thrill killers,” it explores the engrossing questions of motivation, responsibility and punishment. Although it was written several decades ago, the play is as timely as today’s headlines.
