Twelve Angry Jurors
Bennington Theater in Bennington, Vt.
Based on the 1954 teleplay by Reginald Rose
Directed by David Dubov-Flinn
“I don’t presume it’s as simple as A-B-C.”
A guard opens a jury deliberation room and escorts in 12 nervous people who have just sat through a six-week murder trial. They are to deliberate, vote, and come up with a verdict—the right verdict. An initial vote brings them 11 in favor of conviction and one opposed. The rest of the two-hour play results in unexpected reversals of thought. It is a brilliant script based on the original teleplay and the film that followed it. All three are by Reginald Rose. Brilliant.
The company of players at the Bennington Theater do justice to the writing, each one delineating his or her character perfectly. We hate—as we are supposed to—Juror #10, played by Hope Jasper. We love Juror #9, played by David Flinn, when he changes his vote. We admire the sagacity of Juror #6, played by sxr gripp. Mary Jo Greco is a most sensible Juror #1, and Becky Nawrath is a delight as the foreign-born Juror #2. Juror #3, played with unequaled ferocity by Doug Ryan, scares us constantly, while mild-mannered Juror #7, as portrayed by Rick Burgoon, soothes our fears. April Patrick’s Juror #5 is a gentle, calming force. Juror #11, as undertaken by Jackie DiGiorgis, is an inquisitive jury member, and Kathleen Thunberg’s Juror #4 constantly questions everything. Thomas J. Stevens keeps Juror #12 a guessing game of a man. At the center of all this collection of random human beings is Juror #8, beautifully played by Leo Hernandez, who never fails to impress with his calm demeanor, even when physically threatened.
Director David Dubov-Flinn has kept the play alive and moving with people behaving as they should and moments flashing by as they must in a jury room. In this stage adaptation by Sherman L. Sergel, the mixture of genders is fascinating for a story set in the early 1950s when it was extremely rare to see a woman on a jury, let alone six of them. Even though the show is clearly set in that period, the female characters do not seem to be in the wrong room doing the right things.
Listed in the program as a play in three acts, it is presented in two acts with one single intermission. Physically, it looks right, with fine costume design work by Janet Groom and a perfect set created by Todd Clark. The original music by Andrew Lindsay works well.
This production enjoys a very short run, so I would suggest you book seats immediately and get yourself up to Vermont even sooner than that. The show is an unexpected treat.
“Twelve Angry Jurors” runs until May 4 at the Bennington Theater, located at 331 Main Street, Bennington, VT. For information and tickets, visit Bennington Theater’s website.
