Superb 'Angry' at Hippodrome.

Revival of 'the greatest courtroom drama of all time' a powerful success.

Towson Towerlight October 26th, 2006, page 15

By David J. Glover

Billed as “The greatest courtroom drama of all time,” the opening night performance of Twelve Angry Men at the Hippodrome Theatre was a resonating triumph.

Starring George Wendt (best known for his role as Norm Peterson in Cheers) and directed by Scott Ellis, the National Tour of Twelve Angry Men is brought to Baltimore by Roundabout Theatre Company after a highly successful period on Broadway. Originally a 1954 teleplay, then in 1957 a multi-award winning film staring Henry Fonda, the script is highly American and decidedly patriotic having, as its deepest tenant, the belief that the American legal system and the practice of trial-by-jury is fundamentally democratic and fundamentally correct.

In this intense story by Reginald Rose, twelve jurors from twelve different walks of life struggle to come to a unanimous verdict on what initially appears to be a straightforward murder trail. Only one man, Juror Number Eight, played by Richard Thomas of The Waltons fame,  is prepared to question the credibility of the evidence and the testimony of the witnesses.

Director Scott Ellis has stayed true to an inherent realism within the text which contains a true believability that one man can stand up against eleven others armed with nothing but his own reasonable doubt and cause those others to question their own prejudices. Both Wendt’s and Thomas’ performances are convincing in this production but it would be unfair to single them out for praise as there are no noticeably weak performances in this cast which, at times, give the illusion of watching a well crafted film. This realistic yet filmic feel starts with the text, is channeled through the actors and is accentuated by the technical aspects of the whole production.

When I say this production feels like a film, I do not intend that as a comparative criticism  as the sensation is achieved and maintained fluidly. The close intimacy that film allows its audience lends itself to the intensity of emotion and humanity in this story, an intimacy that is so often lost in large theatrical auditoriums. But Allen Moyer’s set, with its super attention to detail, manages, to construct a sparse realism that only acts to highlight the intensity of the performers and the gravitas of the story. Moyer’s manages to bring us into the stinking heat of the jury room in late July only to share the tension between the jurors as opinions change and tempers flair.

Having twelve characters sit around a table in the close confines of a single room for a two hour performance might seem a directorial nightmare for the less seasoned director, but Scott Ellis utilizes the fourth wall to his advantage by not denying it. While sometimes the actors are facing upstage with their backs to the auditorium, and sometimes the actors are sitting in a straight line across the stage, and the characters have a colossal great table to work around, it does not seem to  matter and it certainly does not detract from the production. If anything, it gives the audience even more of the voyeuristic, fly-on-the-wall feeling that is so easily created in film but is often difficult to attain in large theatrical settings.

Wendt, Thomas and the other ten actors weave an intricate pattern of emotion throughout their performances, there are a few well tempered moments of humor to counter-point. The pace of the show is not slow and although there is no interval I would challenge anybody to walk away from this production without having found something worthwhile to engage in.

However, The Baltimore Hippodrome’s auditorium is so expansive and this show relies so much on the claustrophobic intimacy between the actors that the show is not worth seeing from more than half way back in the auditorium. There is no late seating protocol for this production so if you can’t get there early don’t go at all.

Twelve Angry Men runs at the Hippodrome till 5th November 2006.

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