Tapped into success... The verdict is brilliant!
"Modern drama classics don't get any better than Guy Masterson's Australian restaging of his Edinburgh Festival hit, 12 Angry Men.
Written by Reginald Rose in 1954 as a TV play (for which it won three Emmys), it was taken up by Henry Fonda and turned into the legendary film (which received three Oscar nominations but didn't perform so well at the box office) before being finally re-fashioned for the stage by playwright Rose.
It's a justly famous piece of writing that follows a jury through two hours of deliberation, during which an initial guilty verdict is overturned because of one man's doubt and courage.
Absorbing, gripping and rivetingly performed by a cast of Australia's finest." (Diana Simmonds - The Sunday Telegraph (Sydney), 31/10/04)

Cliffhanger in the jury room
"New York City, 1957: it's a hot and stormy late afternoon, but not, perhaps, as hot and stormy as the locked room in which a jury is debating the fate of a 16-year-old from the wrong side of the tracks who is accused of stabbing his father to death.
A guilty verdict, as the judge has instructed the jurors all men carries a mandatory death sentence.
The circumstantial evidence is formidable, the defendant's alibi is shaky and, persuasively, there's eyewitness testimony - an open-and-shut case.
A vote is called for. Eleven jurors say guilty, one isn't convinced. Surely, the lone doubter argues, the kid's life is worth a couple of hours of their time to look at the evidence again.
If the set-up sounds familiar, you probably remember the 1957 movie directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Henry Fonda. It's one of the great artistic works of American liberalism, a cliffhanger crossed with a lesson in civics and a petition for all of us to check our prejudices.
The gradual revealing of information both the disputed facts of the case and the inner workings of the jurors is perfectly calibrated by author Reginald Rose; although, if you're as big a fan of the movie as I am, familiarity will dilute several marvellous twists.
Director Guy Masterson has marshalled a top-notch ensemble that includes Marcus Graham in Fonda's reason-and-empathy role. Shane Bourne is cast against type as the sadistic blowhard the part Lee Cobb took in the movie and does a terrific job.
Real edge-of-the-seat stuff and proof that popular entertainment need not be dead from the neck up. (Colin Rose - The Sunday Herald (Sydney), 31/10/04)

Neat, Simple & Timeless...
"12 Angry Men is one of those classic single-set plays with a gripping premise, a snazzy title and a plot as tight as a mermaid's brassiere.
Forgive the archaic gag: perhaps the play's humour is infectious. Reginald Rose's drama (written for television in 1954) is riddled with such 'wisecracks', although the work's premise has granted it an understandably more serious reputation.
The dozen grumps of the title are jurors in 1950s New York, gathered to determine the fate of a young black man on trial for murder. They're all testy for different reasons, but only one is tense because he thinks the accused is innocent.
The aforementioned humour wasn't lost on director Guy Masterson, who cast British comics in a 2003 production staged at the Edinburgh Festival. It proved a surprising hit with critics and audiences, including two Australian producers who convinced Masterson to restage it in Australia.
The result is engrossing, even if a little exhausting.
There are some worthy performances, including Marcus Graham as the Juror 8 (the one with a conscience) and Peter Phelps as Juror 4. Comic Shane Bourne as Juror 3 at first is simply irritating, with an 'anger' pitched at a consistently bland shout. His eventual breakdown, however, is a complete shock and unexpectedly moving.
Masterson has masterfully choreographed the static action for maximum theatricality. A careful observer will eventually note the judicious use of the water cooler by the actors - a device that keeps the menagerie in flux and away from the deadening table.
The 'drawn' set also beautifully communicates one simple and understated dramatic idea. When Juror 8 attempts to demonstrate a flaw in the evidence using a floorplan of the accused's building, it becomes clear we are watching a crime scene, in which the jurors' prejudices could send an innocent to the electric chair. Neat, simple, timeless stuff." (Tim Benzie - Sydney Star Observer, 04/11/04)

Everything Theatre Should Be...
"Guy Masterson's cast for this serious acting classic for the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe Festival featured well-known comedians who made the production an amazing success. His Australian cast is performing with equal brilliance for an audience who cheered at the end of a powerful production.
The bold move of casting across the grain has comedian Shane Bourne in the role of an enraged would-be executioner; the stylish and sexy Marcus Graham as the nerdish moral arbiter; and the amiable Richard Piper as a raving, racist bigot.
Their riveting performances are matched by the nine other jurors, actors who have been drawn from Australia's finest: Rob Meldrum, George Kapiniaris, Peter Phelps, Nicholas Papademetriou, Aaron Blabey, Peter Flett, Henri Szeps, Alex Menglet and Russell Fletcher.
The play, written for television 50 years ago - and made into a film by Sidney Lumet, with a cast that included Henry Fonda - is a superb piece of writing. It sets up multiple layers of significance as an assortment of US male citizens find they must battle their own demons in the process of enacting the system of justice that makes them proud to be American
The 12 men hold the life of a 16-year-old, accused of murdering his father, in their hands. Only obliquely do we surmise he is black, so that the issue of race and racism simmers beneath the surface where class, educational level, occupation and prejudice all emerge as factors in the individual judgements being made about guilt or innocence.
At the beginning only juror number eight (Marcus Graham) stems the rush to pronounce the boy guilty, and hence condemn him to the mandatory sentence of death. Gradually, through dramatic encounters that reveal the character of each individual, the finer values of respect for human life, fairness, tolerance, compassion, rationality and justice displace ignorance, anger, prejudice, anti-intellectualism and indifference.
The dramatic tension rises, reaching a series of climaxes, one of which is the appalled silence, the frozen postures, that mark the group's horrified condemnation of juror 10's (Richard Piper) violent diatribe of racist hatred.
This is everything theatre should be, leaving its audience on a high of intellectual satisfaction and emotional excitement." (Helen Thompson - The Age (Melbourne), 18/11/04)

JUSTICE and prejudice are thorny issues for contemporary Australia
12 Angry Men, though written in the 1950s in the United States, taps into an emotional vein even 40 years after its creation.
Guy Masterson expertly directs Rose's early version of the play, staged in London in 1964. The script is based on the 1957 film version starring Henry Fonda. Masterson cast 12 excellent actors to play the jury, including Marcus Graham in the Fonda role.
The production transforms the Athenaeum stage into a hot and stuffy New York jury room in 1957. The men sit on a jury to decide the fate of a 16-year-old black boy accused of the knifing murder of his violent father. When a single juror votes Not Guilty, frustration and tempers flare.
The script is intelligent, politically sophisticated and socially challenging, particularly for the 1950s. Rose's characters are impeccably observed, each slowly revealing his social values and inner secrets. Putting 12 opinionated men of diverse class, education and background into a locked room together provokes a gladiatorial atmosphere.
Rose contrives a cunning narrative. Juror No.8 (Graham) suggests that he cannot, in good conscience, send a boy to the electric chair without talking about it first. By tiny increments, he unfolds his concerns about the weapon, the time of the murder, the reliability of witness statements and the ineffective defence attorney. Almost imperceptibly, the picture of reasonable doubt is drawn.
Graham is riveting as the mild but persistent architect. His vocal and physical presence is, as always, compelling. As his opposing voice, the stitched-up stockbroker, Peter Phelps is delightfully cool and rational. Henry Szeps, as the older juror, is a still presence. Alex Menglet, as the European watchmaker, is commanding, Aaron Blabey is hilarious as the voluble salesman and Richard Piper convincing as frighteningly racist juror No.10. Rob Meldrum, George Kapiniaris, Peter Flett, Nicholas Papademetriou, Shane Bourne and Russell Fletcher comprise the rest of a fine cast.
As Graham's character says, "Prejudice obscures the truth''. 12 Angry Men compels us to reconsider our own prejudices. This is life affirming theatre. It would be criminal to miss it!" (Kate Herbert - Herald Sun (Melbourne), 19/11/04)