‘Twelve Angry Men’ comes to The Players’ Ring in Portsmouth

The judgments we make about others reveal as much about ourselves as they do about the people being judged. That’s the central premise behind Reginald Rose’s “Twelve Angry Men,” onstage now at The Players’ Ring in Portsmouth.

The story takes place in a New York court on a sweltering day in the summer of 1957, directly following the trial of a 16-year-old boy accused of murdering his father. If found guilty, he faces the death penalty. A jury of 12 men must decide his fate.

At first, the decision seems clear. The boy is from the slums and has a violent criminal history. The evidence mounted against him is compelling, and his alibi is flimsy. Before deliberations even begin, 11 of the 12 jurors are convinced of his guilt. But one juror (G. Matthew Gaskell) isn’t so sure. Much to the frustration of the others, he begins poking little holes of reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.

As the play’s title suggests, tempers run high in the stuffy jury room, creating an uncomfortably tense atmosphere that permeates the audience. As the unnamed jurors spar with each other, snippets of their own diverse backgrounds are revealed, along with the personal prejudices that influence their judgment.

The set at The Players’ Ring consists of little more than one long, wooden table surrounded by wooden chairs. But the personalities that fill those chairs keep the room pregnant with tension. There’s an old man (Al Chase) who empathizes with an elderly witness. There’s a foreign immigrant (Shawn Crapo) clinging to his faith in the American justice system. There’s a young man from the slums (Brian Kelly) who may understand the defendant’s plight better than anyone else. 

Then there’s a troubled father (Scott Caple) whose empathy lies with the victim. There’s a garage owner (Todd Hunter) whose vision is clouded by paranoid bigotry. Another juror (Jamie Bradley) seems to care little about the outcome of the trial as long as he leaves in time to catch the ballgame that night.

These latter three offer the production’s most compelling performances. All three characters stubbornly insist on a guilty verdict even as the facts of the case are increasingly called into question. Caple (whose theatric talents include a booming voice) boils in his own misdirected rage. Hunter offers one of his finest performances, filled with convincingly bitter cynicism and hatred. Bradley, as usual, is a dynamic presence capable of mocking humor and explosive fury.

Meanwhile, Gaskell’s character maintains his pragmatic cool even in the face of raucous shouts and threats, gradually brewing uncertainty among the others. Gaskell provides a sensitive voice of reason in a caustic and overstressed environment.

The other actors offer their own distinctive turns, including foreman Dave Ostrowski and jurors Ed Hinton, Eric Doucet, Steve Johnson and Matthew Schofield. Together they represent the American melting pot.

Reginald Rose originally wrote “Twelve Angry Men” for television in the 1950s. It was adapted into a film later that decade and again in 1997. Its Broadway debut came in 2004. Though set more than 50 years ago, the issues of race and class raised in the play, as well as the hazards of the judicial system, are as relevant today as ever.

Whether the defendant is in fact guilty is beside the point. More important are the implications of putting a young man’s life in the hands of a group of flawed human beings with unique experiences inseparable from their point of view. Directors Dan Stowell and Kaitlyn Huwe do an admirable job of transporting the audience back to the late ’50s without abandoning the present.

“Twelve Angry Men” runs through March 4 at The Players’ Ring, 105 Marcy St., Portsmouth, 603-436-8123. Show times are 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 7 p.m. on Sundays (2 p.m. on Sunday, March 4). Tickets are $12 to $15.