12 Angry Men does, however, illustrate a minor paradox in art criticism, namely, that it’s easier to discuss how something goes wrong than how it goes right. If there are any nits to pick, there’s no motivation to find them in a production that justifiably received a standing ovation. But I’ll still take a stab at describing why it’s such a smashing success.
No Nits to Pick
Reginald Rose’s masterpiece goes right, I suggest, because of how everything ties neatly together around a simple premise: the case the jury is deciding on. But the kicker is that the actual verdict is something of a MacGuffin. Without the benefit of actually having witnessed the trial or seeing any of the evidence, we must go by what the characters tell us. And to Rose’s credit, he doesn’t jump all over the place with surprise revelations pulled out of thin air. Instead, he gradually reveals more and more information so that we can form our own opinion over the verdict. Our opinion, of course, is less important than getting an inkling of who the characters are based on, how they argue, discuss and ponder the evidence. (Or, to be a bit more precise, having a reasonably objective view of what the verdict should be gives us a baseline by which we can judge the characters’ motives for their own verdicts.)
What gets revealed in terms of the courtroom case is really a case of what gets remembered, and the selectivity of memory is surely one of the play’s themes. To that, we can throw in prejudice, justice, compassion and all the rest, with a refreshing reminder on the ability for reason to triumph over irrationality. It’s enthralling, entertaining and thought-provoking, which is everything a great work of theatre should be.
12 Angry Men. Written by Reginald Rose. Directed by Scott Ellis. Starring Richard Thomas, George Wendt, Randle Mell, Charles Borland, Todd Cerveris, T. Scott Cunningham, Julian Gamble, Jeffrey Hayenga, David Lively, Alan Mandell, Mark Morettini, Patrick New, and Jim Saltouros. On stage at the Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center until May 6. www.centertheatregroup.org