Will we sentence him to death or let him live? Over the course of a few heated hours, the 12 jurors must reach a consensus – that’s right, a consensus! – to decide whether the murder charge against a 19-year-old man has been proven and he will go to the electric chair. Or there is insufficient evidence, and he will survive. At stake is more than just a court drama. At stake is the value of human life, and the subjectivity of justice. How can a decision about another person’s life be made when the decisionmakers themselves have completely different worldviews, life experiences and prejudices?
Reginald Rose’s „12 Angry Men“ is a 20th-century American playwriting and film classic, which was first broadcast on television, then performed on stage, and in 1957, made into a movie directed by Sidney Lumet.
Countless stage interpretations have used this play to address race relations, as well as other heated societal problems of the moment. In Estonia, it has been directed by Mikk Mikiver at the Vanemuise Theatre in 1997, and by Mart Koldits in Paide in 2018 under the title „The 12 Angry“. In the latter case, the cast was comprised of the 28th graduating class of the Performing Arts School at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre.