A timeless American courtroom classic is getting a localised, high-stakes revival as Avant Theatre stages a Tamil production of Reginald Rose’s Twelve Angry Men.
Based on the 1957 teleplay or a play originally written for television, the plot follows 12 jurors, all from varying backgrounds, having to make a unanimous judgment on the fate of a teenage boy on trial for the murder of his father.
The production also celebrates 25 years of Avant Theatre in Singapore, started by actor and theatre practitioner G Selva. “We wanted to bring back something from the past that was received well,” said Mr Selva, 58, the artistic director of the company.
The first staging of the play by Avant Theatre was in 2012, where audiences could choose which actors played which characters for every show. This year’s production will see audiences play more as investigators after hearing all 12 jurors’ arguments.
The script, translated into Tamil by Mrs Umayal Thiruchelvam, simplifies some of the American legal jargon found in the original script to make it more accessible to local audiences.
“We didn’t change much about the plot, but some of the lingo and slang used are difficult to translate into Tamil,” said Mr Selva, “So we only changed the language of the play, to not make a mockery and keep the essence of the story.”
The play also inspired the 2016 Tamil film Vaaimai, which adapted the script for the Perarivaran case, where A.G. Perarivalan was convicted in the 1991 assassination of former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
This high-stakes courtroom drama comes to life at the Stamford Arts Centre from July 9 to 11. Staged in Tamil with English surtitles, the production features two daily showtimes at 3pm and 8pm. Tickets are priced at S$35 for standard admission and S$30 for concessions, with Culture Pass eligibility available. You can book your seats at bookmyshow.sg.
