Tom Clayton
This production sees the return – not quite – of the 12 Angry Men that Guy Masterson put on in 2003 to huge success. This year, they’ve returned and turned the classic play into a spoof, with an all-star cast of comedians to show off their acting abilities. However, this time it’s 11 ½ Angry Men with Ian Coppinger playing the ½ Angry Man.
Having flipped the decision on its head so now the majority of jurors believe the defendant to be innocent, it’s Juror 8 Ian Coppinger, that believes them to be guilty. He sets off trying to explain his viewpoint and hoping to turn the other Jurors round to his way of thinking.
As the play gets going there’s a lot of people on that stage and balancing everyone becomes tricky. The writing attempts to give everyone their moment, like Joe Pasquale tap dancing on the table because someone called him old or Glenn Wool giving an impassioned speech at the end. These moments when isolated are fun, but often feel crowbarred into the play somewhat haphazardly in order for no one to feel left out.
Adapting 12 Angry Men into a spoof is an ambitious task when you consider the original is a commentary on the judicial system and racism in America. So, making this both funny and not losing or demeaning those elements hasn’t quite come off here. Jokes around vegetarianism and smelly sausages just feel off and little out of touch. The jokes also just feel misplaced and because of this they become hard to deliver so sometimes they don’t get the laugh they warrant because you’re too busy paying attention to ensure you don’t miss the next piece of information.
They’ve attached some big names to project in Tom Stade, Spencer Jones and Stephen K Amos, however they often feel underutilised. Steven K Amos has the job of sort of guiding it through as Juror 1/Foreman, but he is often sat back and listening to others rather than being actively involved. This leads to slightly less cohesion as then each Juror has to just state that their mind as been changed and the play then relies upon people reacting to those statements in a way to generate new moments to try and get some laughs.
11 ½ Angry Men is a spoof that misses the mark in various ways, funny in parts, but overall fails to quite come together.
Recommended Drink: A Manhattan, to take you back to 1950s New York.
Catch 11 ½ Angry Men at Pentland Theatre at Pleasance at EICC until the 22nd August at 14:30 (80 mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Maia Kahn
Freddie Haberfellner
