12 Angry Men 



Tue 5 Aug 2003
Guy Masterson's decision to cast mainly comedians as the '12 angry men' works suprisingly well.
And so say we all

Mark Brown
ASSEMBLY (VENUE 3)

It is hard to imagine a better time to present Reginald Rose’s modern classic, 12 Angry Men. With a majority of the British public and an increasing number of Americans, convinced that their governments went to war on a false pretext, "reasonable doubt" has become more of an international preoccupation than a vital legal caveat.

So why have über-director Guy Masterson and comedian/actor Owen O’Neill decided to play it with a cast comprising mainly comedians? It’s the sort of idea that smacks of a late-night bet made over too many bottles of Chardonnay.

In reality, however, the production is another Masterson masterstroke, a scintillating work of ensemble theatre that taps an emotional vein as resolutely as it speaks to our times. Of course, they are working from a superb script but the 12 performers take only a few moments to transform the Assembly’s large music hall into the claustrophobic atmosphere of the jury room.

Rose’s play is intelligently structured to give the audience the sharpest, quickest sense of the boldly drawn, yet cleverly nuanced characters. So is Masterson and O’Neill’s casting. Whether it is Bill Bailey (particularly impressive as the serious-minded and ultimately reasonable middle-class conservative) or Phil Nichol (superb as the almost fascistic blue-collar hothead), every player seems virtually tailored to the role. As personal crises, class prejudices and racial bigotries get dragged in, only the fact that they hold another man’s life in their hands prevents the discussion degenerating into a brawl.

It is a credit to Masterson and his cast that this production sustains and heightens the tension from first to last. O’Neill is outstanding as the juror who sets the ball rolling on the defendant’s freedom and by the time he has finished, one almost expects to hear the audience shout "not guilty" as if it were a jury of hundreds.

12:30pm today. Until 25 August