Twelve Angry Jurors

Last weekend saw the two performances of the annual Junior Play, this time Twelve Angry Jurors (adapted from the original 'Men' and best known for the film version featuring Henry Fonda) by Reginald Rose. Here, Ally Boyd Crotty from Transition Year reviews the production:-

On Friday 1^st and Saturday 2^nd February a cast of eleven Transition Year pupils and three third formers performed a thoroughly rehearsed play called Twelve Angry Jurors. The play was presented in three acts, and was excellently directed and produced by Mr. Swift.
     

Before the play had even begun the unusual and intimate layout caught everyone's attention - in the middle of the BSR (instead of on a raised stage) was a table around which the audience sat in tiers. This meant that everyone felt more involved, and this layout also resulted in everyone being able to see properly.

The play was about a nineteen-year-old boy on trial for murder. It followed the decisions of the jury involved in the case. When the jury first began their discussions at the beginning of the play, they first decided to see where they stood by taking a vote. The vote stood at eleven to one - eleven voting that the boy was guilty. Only one voted not guilty, and this was jury number 8, played by Christian McKeever.
       

For the remainder of the play we tracked the jury proceedings, and watched as the eleven jury members gradually began to be convinced by number 8 that the boy was not guilty, until finally Alex Barnes-Auld cracked and the boy was acquitted. The tension was cranked up skilfully, as the actors revealed the motives and attitudes behind each juror’s decision-making. Eireann Tinkhof, Alex Barnes-Auld, Iyobosa Bello-Asemota, Jamie Maher, Eliza Hancock, Nadia Al Lahiq, Oisin Large, Arthur Moffitt, Alina Stiehler and Muqtadir Shah performed the parts of the other jury members, while the foreperson of the jury was Celine Klee. Eleanor Moffitt and Janet Boyd played the parts the judge and court clerk.

The standard of acting by all members of the cast in my opinion was extremely high, everyone stayed in character and there were no errors to be seen. This production got an extremely good reaction by everyone who was fortunate to have been able to see it, and I would say it was very successful.