Thrill Me

Programs

Thrill Me is a licensed work that debuted in New York. It is based on the true story of a kidnapping and murder case that took place in Chicago in 1924, involving two highly intelligent college students, Leopold and Loeb, who planned and carried out what they believed to be the perfect crime. The play was first introduced in Korea in 2007, where its positive reception from both audiences and critics allowed the Korean production to later be exported to Japan, China, and other countries.
The play begins 34 years after the incident, at a parole hearing. Voices from the time of the crime interrogate ‘me,’ as ‘I’ calmly recount the process of killing a 12-year-old child with ‘him.’ There are no elaborate props on stage - a piano and two actors are - but the tension peaks through the intense acting duel and the piano music that drives the performance. Because the dynamic shifts depending on the actors’ chemistry, the play has a high rewatch rate. It’s no coincidence that famous Hallyu stars like Kang Ha-neul from the drama When the Camellia Blooms and Squid Game 2, Kim Mu-yeol from the film The Roundup: Punishment, and Ji Chang-wook from the drama Welcome to Samdalri are all alumni of Thrill Me.