You've probably heard of the famous courtroom drama Twelve Angry Men. Among the best-known legal fictions of all time, it's been popularized through television, radio play, theatre, and of course its original, Oscar-nominated film.
But this week, the popular story is being presented in Oakville in a completely unique way. West End Studio Theatre (WEST) is producing the stage adaptation at the Oakville Centre's studio theatre like never before: in the round.
How does that change the show? It means that instead of the audience watching actors on a stage, the set and performers will be on the floor in the middle of the theatre, with the audience seated completely surrounding them.
"I love the concept of it doing this show in the round," says director Yo Mustafa. "I want the audience to be part of the jury. This way they can’t escape it - they have to be part of the taxing chore of looking through facts and deciding to do the right thing."
For those unfamiliar, the play is set in the closed setting of a jury deliberation room as a group of twelve male jurors in an early 20th century American courtroom. The play consists of the jury's deliberations as they must decide whether a teenage boy is innocent or guilty of murder - and the show features only 13 characters: one baliff in a cameo role and the twelve titular jurors who must come to a unanimous decision.
Twelve Angry Men began as a stage play first as a 1954 workshop in San Francisco before being adapted into the popular and highly acclaimed 1957 film. It wouldn't find main stream success as a stage show until it's 1996 West End debut and 2004 Broadway transfer.
This is WEST's second production of their 2023/24 subscription season, their first since the COVID-19 pandemic and first independent of other theatre groups in Oakville.
They opened the season with Talking With... in September, and will finish with Thornton Wilder's Our Town in March 2024.
"People are innocent until proven guilty," continues Mustafa. "That’s the whole idea of this show. Sometimes doing the right thing doesn't matter if someone is guilty or not - but everyone has to have the opportunity its to be a defendant. That's who these characters are and the role our audiences will play."
The show runs from now to Nov. 19, 2023, and in a rare feat for most community theatres these days, most performances are now already sold out. That's great news for WEST, which has been critically successful since the pandemic but financially tested.
Mustafa says "it’s great seeing the show is sold out. It helps this is a title people are familiar with. Being 98% sold out doesn’t happen very often and it makes me very happy."
"I'm happy for the studio and I'm happy for the actors because they get to play for a full audience - that’s a great energy to have in a full house. I guess it also means that we have to work even harder, because we want people to come back to live theatre and to feel comfortable supporting us."
When asked whether the show would extend or set a return engagement (like their production of Talking With... did earlier this year) Mustafa was unsure of the answer.
"Would we extend? I don’t know. We’ve started thinking of next season, but we haven't decided anything yet."
In the meantime, audiences with tickets to the show this week will be guilty of being a very lucky audience, with the chance to see an all-star cast of local actors perform an outstanding script.
Twelve Angry Men
Now playing at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts until November 19, 2023.
Limited tickets and box office information is available online here.
By Reginald Rose. Directed by Yo Mustafa.
Starring Nick Biskupek, Michael Brown, Mark St. Jean, Brian Melanson, Rod McTaggart, Chris Ragonetti, Amin Rahmani, Chris Reid, Walter Reid, Brian Silva, Ryk Simpson, Paul Wilson and Anthony Zita.
In addition to the productions, WEST continues various programs at its North Service Road studio, including camps and classes for both children and adults, all supporting local artistic development.
More information about the West End Studio Theatre is available directly on their website.