Syracuse Stage presents ‘Twelve Angry Men,’ a 1957 courtroom drama
Thirteen actors, a stifling hot room, a knife and many discussions regarding race. These components bring to life a 1954 courtroom drama that is eerily reminiscent of the so-called Trumpian rhetoric heard today, said actor Seth Andrew Bridges.
“I don’t think we could have known how present-day it feels inside that 1957 lens,” director James Still said.
Syracuse Stage will present the Reginald Rose teleplay classic courtroom drama “Twelve Angry Men,” from Oct. 9-27. The director said that the company previously held productions in Indiana that shocked audience members with its compelling narrative and timely debates.
“When we played for four weeks in Indianapolis, we had talkbacks and audience members would say this has to have been updated,” Bridges said. “They were in disbelief that there was no additional massaging or rewrites on our end.”
The play depicts the follow-up to the closing arguments in a 1957 murder case in New York. A guilty verdict would mean the death penalty for an inner-city teenager, and together the 12 jurors, must decide a verdict. What begins as an open-shut case for 11 jurors soon spirals into doubt and speculation as only a single juror votes “not guilty.”
As he begins to sway the opinion in the room, the deliberation becomes less about the murder trial, and more about personal experiences and prejudices as the dozen men hold the fate of the accused.
“In terms of why now, we don’t really have anything to do with the programming, but I think it’s a 60-year-old piece and still very prescient,” Bridges said. “And there’s lines in the show that every night get a huge reaction from people because they sound like they could have been said yesterday.”
Bridges gave an example of one those lines, “I’m sick and tired of the facts, you can twist them any way you like.” For both Bridges and Still, lines like these were what drew them to the work that shows “how far we have not come,” Bridges said.
The actors have their own recovery methods after delivering these lines. One actor whose character is known for angry monologues, relaxes by eating ice cream and watching cartoons, Bridges said.
The play is designed to make the audience feel as if they were in the room with the dozen jurors. Without spoiling anything, Still added that there are elements of the set that invite an audience to consider differing points of views that each of the jurors hold.
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“What’s exciting about our production is that it’s so focused on story and so focused on the actors who tell the story…I wanted the story to be told with rigor, urgency and with aggression,” Still said.
The universality of the play’s themes has meant that the play has been able to be enjoyed all around the world. The play has been adapted for the regions it’s performed in, including Lebanon, Russia and South Korea, Still said.
With this production, as with most others keeping to the original script, the cast is predominantly white. Still explained that in the ’50s, although women and minorities were permitted to participate in jury duty, they were often struck down in favor of white men.
While the play remains true to the original script, save a few ad-libbed moments, the production will not be featuring the traditional intermission. Instead, the performance runs through the hour and 40-minute run-time with no break for audience or actors. For Bridges, this is his first time being involved in a play without an intermission or even the ability to be offstage for a moment.
In a play where no one leaves the stage, Still told his actors that any given moment, someone in the audience will be watching them when they are not talking.
Bridges embodies the role of Juror One, whose character is largely mediatory as the foreman of the group. Despite auditioning for a few roles, Bridges is especially content with the complexities of his character, who audience members soon find out is a high school football coach.
“One of the things I enjoy in the play is he starts out very reluctant, uneasy and ill-equipped to wrangle these 11 very opinionated people” Bridges said.
Last season, Bridges was part of the production of “Noises Off,” which was a highly physical comedy requiring him to do all sorts of stunts including falling down a flight of stairs. Yet, this play has proved “more taxing” for Bridges, he said.
One of the interesting dynamics of the play is Still had to cast 12 equally important roles in the play. And similar to the plotline, these actors did not previously know each other or Still, he said.
Still does not believe that directors can orchestrate an audience response, but he hopes that the play brings up questions of “civil duty and the art of listening,” as well as “rattle the audience.”
“Ultimately it is a hopeful story, it’s also a great example of a compassionate and resilient voice being able to change the hearts and minds of a room of people who disagree with him,” Bridges said.