Review (PDF) Twelve Angry Men (Penguin Classics)
A landmark American drama that inspired a classic film and a Broadway revival—featuring an introduction by David MametA blistering character study and an examination of the American melting pot and the judicial system that keeps it in check, Twelve Angry Men holds at its core a deeply patriotic faith in the U.S. legal system. The play centers on Juror Eight, who is at first the sole holdout in an 11-1 guilty vote. Eight sets his sights not on proving the other jurors wrong but rather on getting them to look at the situation in a clear-eyed way not affected by their personal prejudices or biases. Reginald Rose deliberately and carefully peels away the layers of artifice from the men and allows a fuller picture to form of them—and of America, at its best and worst. After the critically acclaimed teleplay aired in 1954, this landmark American drama went on to become a cinematic masterpiece in 1957 starring Henry Fonda, for which Rose wrote the adaptation. More recently, Twelve Angry Men had a successful, and award-winning, run on Broadway.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Series: Penguin Classics
Paperback: 96 pages
Publisher: Penguin Classics; 1 edition (August 29, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0143104403
ISBN-13: 978-0143104407
Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.2 x 7.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 0.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #11,829 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #11 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > Literature > American Literature #31 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Dramas & Plays > Regional & Cultural > United States #185 in Books > Textbooks > Reference
(ISBN-10: 1580813402 and ISBN-13: 978-1580813402) Oh, that "Studio One" my generation watched on the telly. My mouth just waters at the thought of such excellence that regularly came into our living rooms as live broadcasts. "Twelve Angry Men" was originally written as a teleplay for the 'studio' by Reginald Rose, who is also in receipt of my kudos for writing the screenplay for the movie of the same name starring Henry Fonda, and this audio CD, which was directed by David Mamet. A real class act, this.We don't know which actor is which, except by a process of elimination of the voices we do know. The remainder we can guess about, and 'the back cover of the audio CD matches up juror number to actor, which may not be of help; jurors are not referred to by name or number' at all, and the actors are no slouches either. (Publisher's Weekly)Actually, identifying the actors is the least of our problems, for in brief, we are sequestered inside the jury room alongside the twelve, eleven of whom are fighting the holdout among them who has reasonable doubt.Their problems become our problems. They react to every little thing, e.g. whether the window should be opened on a really hot day -- as well as the most serious things possible, which manifest themselves as "the seemingly open and shut case turns complicated, igniting passions and hidden prejudices." ("Book Description," author unknown). What will they ultimately do? And what about us? Contemplate, if you will, the vaunted American Justice System as it is, up close.This is an L.A. Theater Works production with a full, splendid cast, produced in front of a live audience, and is sold in the L.A. Theater Works store on .com.
12 Angry Men was first written as an episode of the Anthology Show, Studio One and then turned into the classic 1957 film starring Henry Fonda and Lee Cobb. It’s the culturally iconic story of twelve men in jury room in the Capital case of a young man accused of killing his father and how these very different people interact and how their biases and perceptions shape the way they vote. The film became a classic which was parodied and copied more times than anyone could count. In 1997, it was made into a HBO telefilm but updated to modern times. Rose also made a stage version which was performed by LA Theatre Works in 2005 and released as an audio drama.Of course, the script is solid with great tension. The weakest part of the play is at the beginning. The judge reads the jury instructions in monotone and every line of dialogue seems to be delivered just a tad too fast. This might have been the director’s attempt to show the rush to judgment but it doesn’t work all that well.However, once the cast gets going, they’re true professionals. Some of the voices in here include Hector Elizondo as Juror #10, Dan Castellaneta (Homer Simpson) as Juror #5, and Armin Shimerman (Quark from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) as Juror #4. The story unfolds beautifully with a lot of high tension scenes and most of them come off brilliantly on stage and on audio.The relatively weak performance of the play had to be Jeffrey Donovan as Juror #8, the story’s protagonist. It’s a tough role to be sure particularly when giants like Henry Fonda and Jack Lemon have played the role on screen, but Donovan’s performance was just weak. Given the caliber of the rest of the case, it’s surprising they didn’t get a stronger performer for this role.
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