prejudice in the courtroom

Reginald Rose's Twelve Angry Men, based on the 1957 Academy Award-nominated movie of the same name, is revived in Milwaukee at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, directed by Mark Clements. A thrilling courtroom drama, the poignant play proves that personal prejudices and the law make for an explosive combination. It remains as hard-hitting and vital today as it was at the apex of the civil rights movement in America when it was set.

What is the story?

A group of 12 all-male jurors must decide once and for all on a unanimous verdict of murder, which the judge has warned carries a mandatory death sentence for the accused, a young Hispanic man. The jurors all carry their own beliefs and prejudices against the accused and, combined with an urgency to carry on with their own lives (including tickets to a baseball game that evening), they are almost ready to deliver a guilty verdict - until one dissenting voice, Juror 8, calls for a closer examination of the case facts, much to the chagrin of his colleagues.

In particular, a bigoted nemesis in the form of Juror 3 believes that all minorities are automatically guilty of crimes they are accused of. What follows is an intense and emotionally charged argument of the facts, accusations of prejudice, and at one point threatens to break into violence.