Twelve Angry Men Review

Twelve Angry Men

The Alexandra Theatre

Birmingham

30th October - 4th November 2023

Act I - 68 minutes

Interval - 20 minutes

Act II - 44 minutes

Bill Kenwright presents 'Twelve Angry Men,' a life in the balance. Twelve Men. One verdict in Reginald Rose's classic knife-edge thriller.

An American courtroom drama written by Reginald Rose, brings together 'Twelve Angry Men' as the jury of a homicide trial. Way back in 1954 it was broadcast as a television play initially and subsequently it was adapted for the stage and screen. The latter released in 1957 and directed by Sidney Lumet.

Twelve Angry Men is a play that examines and scrutinises the role and responsibilities of twelve ordinary members of society as they consider the facts of a young man accused of murder; the guilt or the innocence of the crime. With a diverse range of characters and characteristics the twelve members of the jury convey their own prejudices, biases, and opinionated views that they bring to the jury room as they work together through this life or death decision.

The evening of the 30th October and opening night of Twelve Angry Men cascaded me briefly back to the early 1980s as one of the icons of that hugely popular American drama 'Dallas' stood before me, Patrick Duffy. He graced the stage with an air of authority yet at the same time was relaxed and calm in a somewhat chaotic atmosphere of noise and opinionated views! The drama slowly unfolds revealing the key facts of the storyline and carefully unravels the personalities of each of the jury members in turn. The cast, like a jury were very diverse and appeared to be carefully selected in this star studded line up of film, tv and theatrical artists comprising of Patrick Duffy (Juror 8), Tristan Gemmill (Juror 3), Michael Greco (Juror 7), Ben Nealon (Juror 12), Gary Webster (Juror 6) and Gray O'Brien (Juror 10) accompanied by Paul Beech (Juror 9), Samarge Hamilton (Juror 5), Mark Heenehan (Juror 4), Kenneth Jay (Juror 11), Paul Lavers (Juror 2), Owen Oldroyd (Foreman) and Jeffrey Harmer (Guard) all bringing significant tv, film and theatre experience!

The centre piece of the stage being a large, rustic wooden table with a washroom and a small corridor set to one side. Vintage style lighting illuminated the centre stage creating an authentic atmosphere accompanied by a dramatic moment of storm with flashes of lightning and rain cascading down the window pains added to the authenticity of the play. I became so engrossed with the discussions of the jurors that I failed to notice the rotational movement of the large table around which the jury debated. Each movement of the table enabled the audience to effectively view the different perspectives of discussions of the jury from a variety of angles.

The clarity of speech was loud and clear despite many characters talking, and talking over each other. However, at times the American accent did slip a little, apart from the obvious voice of Patrick Duffy.