Albuquerque’s Adobe Theater is presenting “Twelve Angry Men” through June 28th at its intimate venue on Fourth just north of Alameda. NMK and Donna attended the performance last night.
This is a tough play to present I’d think. Many of those most likely to attend have undoubtedly seen (many times perhaps) the classic 1957 movie with Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Martin Balsam, E.G. Marshall, Jack Warden and Jack Klugman. (There was a made-for-TV version produced in 1997 with Jack Lemmon, George C. Scott, Ossie Davis, James Gandolfini, Tony Danza, Hume Cronyn and others. Watch both, but especially watch the 1957 version.) In any case, because those 52-year-old characterizations are such a part of pop culture, how does the amateur theater compete artistically?
At Adobe the actors portrayed the jurors a little more angry, a little more on the edge. The dialogue was Reginald Rose’s original, somewhat reorganized, but the tension, if possible, seemed more on the surface than I remember from either film. It being New Mexico, I half expected someone to pull a concealed weapon.
This, of course, may be the direction, or the most skillful these actors could be, but it came across a little less as jury room and a little more as barroom.
Still, an enjoyable time and recommended. When a movie costs $9 or more, seeing a play in a very small theater for $14 ($12 senior and student) is quite rewarding.
I wonder BTW when someone will rewrite the play as “Twelve Angry Women.” It seems to me the dynamic, even if the same biases were represented among the jurors, would be quite different with an all-female jury. Well-done it could be a striking antithesis with the classic movie.