Earlier this year when reviewing The Verdict at Theatre Royal Bath, as well intentioned as the production had been, I left that press night feeling the choice of film-to-stage adaptation might have been found best elsewhere. In fact, it was another Sidney Lumet-directed courtroom drama I felt might make that difficult transition work.
And my wish has been granted by theatre fairy Bill Kenwright Productions. Twelve Angry Men stops off in Bath only seven months later. A rather quick granting by theatre standards.
Surprisingly, the 1957 film starring Henry Fonda is not the source material but rather the 1954 teleplay of the same name. In fact, the first adaptation by writer Reginald Rose was on stage before it hit the silver screen a year later. A film, teleplay and play all in three years!
The play sees 12 jurors deliberating the consequences of one fatal night when a teenager is charged with first-degree murder of his father. Initially looking like a slam-dunk guilty verdict, reasonable doubt begins to seep in through juror number eight’s observations.
The opening act was halted due to a static buzz heard around the four-tiered theatre, causing a 20-minute delay and ultimate shift of the interval. It must be a stage manager’s nightmare—and audio technician's, too. But with the two acts seamlessly continuous, a decision was made to push through and ultimately the company’s professionalism shone. A never-flustered Patrick Duffy, who plays juror number eight, returns with a cheeky tongue poke to the audience.
Duffy initially struggled to find his stage voice and was difficult to pick up at times, often facing away—perhaps trying to embody Henry Fonda’s softly spoken approach a little too much. As the play got into the flow, then Duffy proceeded to go through the gears.
The production certainly suffered from some one-dimensional, shouty acting and staging which lacked the intimacy Lumet’s film illuminated. The set is aesthetically pleasing with its stripped-backed walls but ultimately struggled to recreate the stuffy and uncomfortable atmosphere of jurors on top of one another.
Hailed as a gripping drama, it doesn’t quite live up to its source material’s potential. Like Shawshank Redemption, another Bill Kenwright Productions show that recently toured, the cinematic charm isn’t replicated on the stage.