Have you ever been to a dinner party where a few too many people are squeezed into a space that’s just a little too small? Depending who you’re sitting next to, the room can either feel cozy or claustrophobic.

When the weary jury tramped into the jury room and settled into their respective seats, that feeling of a-little-too-close was suddenly evoked. The staging was clever, because almost immediately after the jury orders were given, the actors moved their seats around found physical space, but that discomfort of being next to someone you don’t know, of being trapped for no-one knows-how-long, lingered.

I think this script is ideal for a community theatre group – while it does rely heavily on a few key players do to heavy lifting, there is lots of great back and forth and characters are rarely left alone uninterrupted for too long. If I can level a criticism at the script, it is that in order to include everyone, some scenes were possibly superfluous, and some dialogue was a bit odd and expository. Despite this, the ensemble cast dug deep to find as much character identity and each character was well defined and clear.

While all the characters were brought to life with a committed ensemble, in the large cast of twelve, there were a few performances that should be noted. De Roger and Muriel Ali as the First and Second Old Lady (their character names!) had an immediate, natural rapport with one another and banter that was playful at the right moments, and bullying at others that felt very honest. The pair was almost always together, often jumping in on top of one another’s lines, but managed to define their characters clearly even in this packaged duo. The Foreman, played by Dominick Ali was bullish at the right moments, but went along with the game wonderfully during the many reenactments. The Young Man played by Noel Feliciano (and friend of mine!) balanced a truthful performance of tentative uncertainty before charging in with headstrong energy in the later acts.

There were key moments of comedy that were chosen to be played up, and I think these worked extremely effectively to keep the pacing snappy, and helped keep the play from feeling one note.

This is only my second offering that I have taken in from St. Luke’s, and based on what I have seen they are creating overall strong shows, and are definitely worth taking a look at!