Last Friday I went to see Twelve Angry Men at The Garrick Theatre on Charing Cross Road. Twelve Angry Men is a classic film and one of my all-time favourites so I was really looking forward to the stage version, starring Martin Shaw. I was not disappointed. I had managed to book some rather good seats so was able to see the actorizing up pretty close and personal for a change - especially important for a production like this when it's about the subtle nuances of the interchanges between the jurors.
This really was a treat which I could enjoy from several different perspectives; firstly as I mentioned I love the film, secondly how it was staged and thirdly from an actorly perspective - it's a simple story - a jury deliberating over a guilty verdict and a man's life, so the quality of the acting really shines through. Plus as time goes on, the claustrophobic aspect becomes heightened. The first five or ten minutes I actually wondered if I had seats too close to the stage as some of the actors were upstaged by those in front (twelve actors on stage at anyone time is unusual!) but actually it was beautifully set with really nice positioning with didn't seem too 'stagey'.
The characters and the script was kept really close to the film, so it was easy to compare and contrast how the acting translated to the stage, the main exception that I noticed being the very end which was subtly different. I actually thought here that the film was more powerful but I acknowledge that this would have been impossible to translate effectively on the stage, not being able to do 'close-ups' and all. Anyway, loved it, it made up for some pants theatre I'd seen just the day before, and I'd whole heartedly say go see it, but sadly I think it might be coming to the end of its run.
