Were Leopold and Loeb inspired by Nietzsche, or Jewish self-loathing?

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According to reporting by The Forward, Any production of Patrick Hamilton’s popular thriller Rope, like any game of Clue, can be reduced to props, setting and culprits. The central prop is a large chest, containing a freshly-murdered body. The setting can vary: Mayfair in Hamilton’s 1929 original.

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Cameron Monaghan and Corey Fogelmanis in Gordon Greenberg’s adaptation of Rope. Photo by Monique Carboni

Any production of Patrick Hamilton’s popular thriller Rope , like any game of Clue , can be reduced to props, setting and culprits.

The central prop is a large chest, containing a freshly-murdered body. The setting can vary: Mayfair in Hamilton’s 1929 original, Manhattan in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 screen adaptation starring Jimmy Stewart. The names of the players are sometimes different, but there are always two students in their finely-appointed apartment with the titular murder weapon.

Gordon Greenberg’s new adaptation , now playing off-Broadway at the New Group’s space at St. Clement’s, presents a novel clue as to what prompted the crime: a Christmas tree upstage right. In his take on this “well-made play,” which Greenberg believes has its deficiencies, the central characters, inspired by University of Chicago students Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, are once again Jewish, but doing their best to conceal that fact.

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Source & Verification Provenance

Information in this article was compiled directly from records provided by The Forward. Access the primary source document at: https://forward.com/culture/theater/862481/rope-gordon-greenberg-leopold-and-loeb-jewish-play/. Reporting and editorial review conducted by the USA NOW News Desk.