‘Twelve Angry Men’ retains its effect in Newport

Tom Titus

The “Golden Age of Television” was populated by such creative

giants as Rod Serling, J.P. Miller, Paddy Chayevsky and a writer who

perhaps had the single biggest effect with a story of conflict inside

a jury room, Reginald Rose.

Rose, who died last year at 81, created “Twelve Angry Men” as a TV

drama in the 1950s. Its tremendous success inspired the better-known

movie version with Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb and Ed Begley.

Today, a half-century after its birth, this story, adapted for the

stage by Sherman L. Sergel, lives on in various local theater

incarnations.

The latest venue to try the case of a young Puerto Rican boy

accused of stabbing his father to death is the Newport Theater Arts

Center. Director Michael Ross has assembled a strong cast to recreate

some of the most familiar, yet still involving, conflicts in the

theater.

It’s a bit confusing at first, though, since Ross has not assigned

his jurors to sit by numerical order, but it soon becomes apparent

who’s playing the “Fonda role” of Juror No. 8 (John Gilbert) and his

primary antagonist, the “Cobb role” of No. 3 (Ed Dyer). These two

actors face off in a tense battle of principles and philosophy, which

more than once requires the intervention of the cooler-headed jurors.

Gilbert projects his forcefulness with a staunch, secure

characterization as he holds out against the other 11 with his “not guilty” vote until he gradually wins the others over. Dyer writhes in

psychological agony, displaying a hair-trigger temper and blindly

basing his insistence on the defendant’s guilt on his own failed

relationship with his son.

In a surprising turn, Ross has assigned the “Begley role” of the

bigot to the production’s only African-American actor, George P.

Norment, who turns in a powerful performance. Peter Stone is

convincing in the role of Juror No. 4, identified with E.G. Marshall,

the stockbroker who is guided by logic and intelligence.

Patrick M. Strong impresses as the shyest, most reluctant juror,

No. 5, whose upbringing in the slums leads to a major development in

the play. David Schwartz, in the “Jack Warden role” of Juror No. 7,

places less emphasis on his anxiousness to get the deliberations over

so he can get to his baseball game than Rose’s original script

dictated.

Character roles are ably filled by Brian Benoit as the elderly

Juror No. 9, who identifies with an aged witness who may have given

erroneous testimony, and Eduardo Mora as the foreign-born Juror No.

11 who administers a low-key civics lesson. Jack Millis lightens the

proceedings as the gregarious ad executive, Juror No. 12.

Lewis P. Leighton strives to maintain order as the jury foreman,

while John R. Ellington as the timid Juror No. 2 and James Jacoby as

the logical Juror No. 6 complete the deliberating body. Timothy J.

Rembert fills the cameo role of the guard.

Martin Eckman’s set design assures a full view of all the jurors.

Costumes by Donna Fritsche and lighting by Mitch Atkins also are

quite serviceable.

“Twelve Angry Men” is one of the best-remembered episodes of TV’s

early period of substantial drama -- often presented live by

Playhouse 90 and Studio One. Those days are long gone, but scripts

such as Rose’s remain to inform and entertain new generations of

theater audiences.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His

reviews appear Thursdays and Saturdays.