TWELVE ANGRY MEN

730pm, Friday, May 16
730pm, Saturday, May 17
3pm, Sunday, May 18

Playcrafters Barn Theatre, Moline

www.playcrafters.com
309-762-0330

Tickets $10
Running time: 1 hour and 40 minutes, including one intermission
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The latest offering at Playcrafters Barn Theatre is TWELVE ANGRY MEN, the Reginald Rose drama that has been made into a film at least twice – and you may also be familiar with the script about jurors in a 1957 murder trial from reading it in a high school literature class.

Since the show is well-known, many audience members will recognize these characters and might even know some of the lines by heart (as I do from a staged reading of TWELVE ANGRY JURORS a couple of decades ago). Likewise, you might have at least seen the Jack Lemmon film version, so I expect that most who go see this will know the material as well as they do when seeing familiar shows like ANNIE or THE SOUND OF MUSIC.

In the case of a show such as this, the challenge is sometimes holding the interest of the audience – and occasionally resisting the urge to set it in a village alongside a post-nuclear Arctic volcano or on a gay dude ranch in the communist state of Texas or other pointlessly oddball setting. It takes a classic sensibility (and a bit of real restraint) to just let the show unfold as it is, but thankfully director Craig Michaels as the good sense to let well enough alone. With clear writing like this, a gimmick is often something that will just get in the way of the inherent drama in the piece – and Michaels’ show succeeds because his only "gimmicks" are clear direction and a number of fine actors who know what they are doing. And despite knowing exactly what almost every character was about to say, this fine production of the drama held my complete attention form the first line to the last.

On the subject of acting, many communities simply cannot field a dozen character actors with the skills they need to do this show well – hence the many versions with "jurors" replacing "men" in the title – but the wealth of talent in and around the Quad-Cities is rich enough to allow this work to be easily successful. (And after more than a decade of work as a critic in this market, I know it would be possible to find another dozen or two who could do just as well as these fine performers do – which is an amazing testament to the depth and breadth of theater talent in our area.)

And these actors are certainly more than sufficient.

I particularly enjoyed the work of Joe Mital, whose fine performance as Juror #2 is a sweet portrayal of a gentle soul. His line readings and facial expressions hint at a depth that belies the character’s surface simplicity, and he makes this juror someone you might want to meet – and even introduce to your favorite single aunt, for that matter.

Michael B. Miller lends rich texture to the role of Juror #11, an immigrant whose faith in the United States constitution is firm and inspiring (if a bit naïve). He foregoes a complicated, overly-thick accent in favor of polite, slightly-halting diction, and the result is a much more powerful portrayal. Spiro Bruskas and William Pepper also successfully play jurors whose backgrounds allow them to examine the evidence without prejudice.

Jerry Wolking and Tom Morrow play the jurors with the most overt prejudice, and they do so with direct authenticity rather than caricature, which makes their performances all the more powerful and illuminating. Both do absolutely first-rate work.

Jim Driscoll’s understated performance as Juror #8, the lone holdout in the first round of "guilty" voting, and his quiet insistence and sense of fair play are strongly evident. His character’s clashes with Wolking’s juror are superbly crafted, and Driscoll’s reliance on the text rather than a lot of physical or facial theatrics serves the role well.

Don Madson, Bill Bates, Chris Browne, Joshua Kahn, Bill Hudson and Don Hazen round out the cast, and though their roles are smaller, each contributes what is required to keep the consistent quality of this show high.

The staging for this TWELVE ANGRY MEN (by Michaels and Wolking) is equally direct and lacking in flash, which is a perfect choice for this material. One slight tech note: the script’s reference to Browne’s character wearing a custom-tailored suit should be borne out by costuming. Instead, what we see is Browne (whose character is supposed to be uber-wealthy) in an ill-fitting suit, being complimented by Wolking’s character, who is actually wearing a suit that looks as though it might have been tailored for him – the exact opposite of what the script calls for.

Otherwise, though, this is an excellent show. Don’t miss the chance to see this classic brought to life on a local stage – you’ll be impressed with it for sure.

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