Twelve Angry Men (play)

''Twelve Angry Men'' is a play by Reginald Rose adapted from his 1954 teleplay of the same title for the CBS '' Studio One'' anthology television series. Staged first in San Francisco in 1955, the Broadway debut came 50 years after CBS aired the play, on October 28, 2004, by the Roundabout Theatre Company at the American Airlines Theatre, where it ran for 328 performances.

Plot

The story begins after closing arguments have been presented in the capital murder case against a troubled teenager, who stands accused of killing his father with premeditation. The judge, heard but unseen, announces the instructions to an all-male (as traditionally staged) jury. As in most American criminal cases, the twelve men must unanimously decide on a verdict of "guilty" or "not guilty". (In the justice systems of nearly all American states, as in the case of New York State where the case is implied to be tried, failure to reach a unanimous verdict, a so-called "hung jury", results in a mistrial.) The jury is further instructed that a guilty verdict will be accompanied by a mandatory death sentence; the jury is then locked into the room until a verdict is reached. Adding to the tension, the weather is exceptionally hot and the lone fan in the room is broken.

As the jurors begin, they take a preliminary vote to assess the room. All the jurors vote guilty except one, Juror 8, who is leaning toward guilty but, acting on a hunch and a desire not to rush to judgment, votes not guilty. The jurors begin explaining why they came to their decisions, and though Juror 8 is unconvinced, he agrees to abstain from the next round of voting and change his vote to guilty if the others remain unanimous. With the next vote, Juror 9 flips, agreeing it should not be rushed.

The jurors begin assessing the evidence. The alleged murder weapon, a knife that was testified to be unique, turns out to be identical to one in Juror 8's possession, a common switchblade. One of the witnesses, a downstairs neighbor, claimed to have heard the defendant yell "I am going to kill you," a loud thud, then saw the defendant fleeing down the staircase of their shared apartment complex 15 seconds after the incident; an experiment shows that a man of his age and condition could not have possibly reached the staircase in a comparable amount of time, and furthermore, a passing train would have overwhelmed any sound the witness had heard beyond any clear identification. One by one, Jurors 5, 11, 2 and 6 flip to not guilty. Juror 7 soon follows, solely because he wants to get out in time for the Yankees game that evening; a thunderstorm soon rolls in, raining out the game and rendering that point moot.

Juror 4 points out the weakness of the defendant's alibi and failure to remember details during interrogation. Juror 8 quizzes Juror 4 on what he did the past several days to demonstrate that memory is fallible, especially under stress, also noting that the defendant did successfully recall the details at trial (to which the guilty voters point out that he could have been coached). Juror 5, who had a similar upbringing to the defendant and had experience with switchblades, demonstrates that it would have been impractical for a switchblade user, especially one shorter than the victim, to stab in the downward direction the stab wound was. Juror 12 flips along with the foreman.

Jurors 3, 4 and 10 remain in the guilty camp. Juror 4 remains convinced of the one remaining witness, a lady who testified seeing the crime by chance from across the street in her bed, temporarily convincing Juror 12 to flip back to guilty. Juror 10, in a tirade, admits he is voting guilty as an act of white supremacy and is ordered to keep silent. Juror 8 is initially unable to rebut this evidence until realizing that the witness normally wore glasses, which she would not have been wearing in bed, making it highly unlikely she actually saw the crime in sufficient detail to identify the perpetrator. Juror 4 flips, Juror 12 returns to not guilty, and Juror 10 begrudgingly casts a not guilty vote.

Juror 3, whose temper had increasingly flared throughout deliberations, is the last holdout. In an impassioned final plea, he vows to hang the jury and relates the crime to his own strained relationship with his son, then breaks down in tears. The other jurors remind him that the defendant is not his son, and he finally flips. The foreman delivers the not guilty verdict to the bailiff, the door unlocks and the jurors all leave, with Juror 8 helping Juror 3 with his coat.

Characters

The characters are unnamed; throughout their deliberation, not a single juror calls another by his name, and they are identified in the script merely by number. The epilogue, not included in all productions, gives Jurors 8 and 9 names (Mr. Davis and Mr. McCardle, respectively).

Productions

Rose wrote several different variations of the stage adaptation of the story. Once dramatic rights to the film were sold, several versions based on the film were staged as well.

It was staged in San Francisco in 1955 and in Europe in 1958, including an adaptation by Andre Obey in Paris.

In 1964, Leo Genn appeared in the London production, directed by Margaret Webster. For other theatrical adaptations, wherein female actors are cast, the play is often retitled ''12 Angry People'' or ''12 Angry Jurors''.

Harold Pinter directed a production of the play, which opened at the Bristol Old Vic on March 7, 1996. With set design by Eileen Diss, lighting design by Mick Hughes, and costume design by Tom Rand, its cast included Stuart Rayner (Juror 1, Foreman), Kevin Dignam (Juror 2), Tony Haygarth (Juror 3), Timothy West (Juror 4), Maurice Kaufmann (Juror 5), Douglas McFerran (Juror 6), Tim Healy (Juror 7), Kevin Whately (Juror 8), Alan MacNaughtan (Juror 9), Peter Vaughan (Juror 10), Robert East (Juror 11), Christopher Simon (Juror 12), Joshua Losey (Guard), and E. G. Marshall, as the Voice of the Judge. Marshall had portrayed "#4" in Sidney Lumet's 1957 film version of the play. The production transferred to the Comedy Theatre in London the same year.

In 2003, the British producer/director Guy Masterson directed an all comedian revival at the Assembly Rooms including Bill Bailey as Juror 4, Phil Nichol as Juror 10, Owen O'Neill as Juror 8, Stephen Frost as Juror 3 and Russell Hunter as Juror 9 during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival which broke the existing box office record for drama at the Fringe Festival and garnered much critical acclaim.

The Roundabout Theatre Company presented a Broadway production of the play in 2004, starring Boyd Gaines as a more combative Juror 8, with James Rebhorn (Juror 4), Philip Bosco (Juror 3), and Robert Prosky as the Voice of the Judge. Prosky had starred as "#3" in a Washington D.C. production of the show, opposite Roy Scheider as "#8" and Rene Auberjonois as "#5".

In 2005, the British producer/director Guy Masterson directed a hugely successful Australian version of his hit Edinburgh 2003 production produced by Arts Projects Australia and Adrian Bohm at QPAC Brisbane, Sydney Theatre and Melbourne Athenaeum including Shane Bourne as Juror 3, Peter Phelps as Juror 4, Marcus Graham as Juror 8, George Kapiniaris as Juror 2 and Henri Szeps as Juror 9. This production won three Melbourne Green Room Awards and a nomination for "Best Play" at the Helpmann Awards.

In 2005, L.A. Theatre Works presented a production of the play that was recorded and released in 2006 as an audiobook; directed by John de Lancie, the cast included Dan Castellaneta, Jeffrey Donovan, Héctor Elizondo, Robert Foxworth, James Gleason, Kevin Kilner, Richard Kind, Alan Mandell, Rob Nagle, Armin Shimerman, Joe Spano, and Steve Vinovich.

The London West End production opened in November 2013 (running until March 1, 2014) at the Garrick Theatre. Directed by Christopher Haydon, the cast included Martin Shaw, Robert Vaughn, Jeff Fahey, Nick Moran, Robert Blythe, Miles Richardson and Martin Turner.

In 2014, Independent Theatre Pakistan performed an adaptation of this play at Alhamra Arts Council, Lahore, directed by Azeem Hamid.

Screen adaptations

A 1954 television production for '' Studio One''

Cast:
* Norman Fell – Foreman/Juror No. 1
* John Beal – Juror No. 2
* Franchot Tone – Juror No. 3
* Walter Abel – Juror No. 4
* Lee Phillips – Juror No. 5
* Bart Burns – Juror No. 6
* Paul Hartman – Juror No. 7
* Robert Cummings – Juror No. 8
* Joseph Sweeney – Juror No. 9
* Edward Arnold – Juror No. 10
* George Voskovec – Juror No. 11
* Larkin Ford – Juror No. 12 (credited as "Will West")Studio One In Hollywood: "Twelve Angry Men"
IMDb

Sweeney and Voskovec repeated their parts in the 1957 film.

A 1957 feature film adaptation, produced and written by Rose himself, and directed by Sidney Lumet. Nominated for 3 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Cast:
* Martin Balsam as Juror No. 1 (Foreman)
* John Fiedler as Juror No. 2
* Lee J. Cobb as Juror No. 3
* E. G. Marshall as Juror No. 4
* Jack Klugman as Juror No. 5
* Edward Binns as Juror No. 6
* Jack Warden as Juror No. 7
* Henry Fonda as Juror No. 8 / Davis
* Joseph Sweeney as Juror No. 9 / McCardle
* Ed Begley as Juror No. 10
* George Voskovec as Juror No. 11
* Robert Webber as Juror No. 12

A 1997 feature film adaptation, directed by William Friedkin.

Cast:
* Courtney B. Vance as Juror No. 1 (Foreman)
* Ossie Davis as Juror No. 2
* George C. Scott as Juror No. 3
* Armin Mueller-Stahl as Juror No. 4
* Dorian Harewood as Juror No. 5
* James Gandolfini as Juror No. 6
* Tony Danza as Juror No. 7
* Jack Lemmon as Juror No. 8
* Hume Cronyn as Juror No. 9
* Mykelti Williamson as Juror No. 10
* Edward James Olmos as Juror No. 11
* William Petersen as Juror No. 12

'' 12''. A 2007 film adaptation. Director Nikita Michalkov

Cast:
* Sergei Makovetsky – Juror No. 1
* Nikita Mikhalkov – Juror No. 2
* Sergei Garmash – Juror No. 3
* Valentin Gaft – Juror No. 4
* Alexei Petrenko – Juror No. 5
* Yuri Stoyanov – Juror No. 6
* Sergei Gazarov – Juror No. 7
* Mikhail Yefremov – Juror No. 8
* Alexey Gorbunov – Juror No. 9
* Sergei Artsibashev – Juror No. 10
* Viktor Verzhbitsky – Juror No. 11
* Roman Madyanov – Juror No. 12
* Alexander Adabashyan – Bailiff
* Apti Magamayev – Chechen boy

Awards and nominations

2004 Broadway revival

See also

* Minority influence

References

Further reading

*

External links

*

{{DramaDesk PlayRevival 2001–2025

1954 plays
American plays
Broadway plays
Drama Desk Award–winning plays
Edgar Award–winning works
Plays based on television plays
West End plays
Fiction about juries
Courtroom drama plays
Twelve Angry Men
Plays set in courtrooms