Director: Prof. Kirti Jain
Playwright: Ranjeet Kapoor
Institution: National School of Drama, India
Venue: Experimental Theatre
Time: 19:30~21:30, May 20, 2010
Event: ATEC 5th International Forum with the 1st Asian Theatre Schools Festival
Synopsis
An adaptation by Ranjeet Kapoor of “12 Angry Men” by Reginald Rose.
“Ek ruka hua faislla” focuses on a jury's deliberations in a capital murder case. A 10-member jury is set to begin deliberations in a first-degree murder trial of a 19-year-old boy accused of stabbing his father to death. A guilty verdict means a mandatory death sentence. To most of the jury the case appears to be open-and-shut: the defendant has a weak alibi, a knife he claimed to have lost is found at the murder scene, and several witnesses either heard screaming or saw the killing or supposedly the boy fleeing the scene. Nine of the jurors immediately vote “guilty”, leaving only one member casting a “not guilty”vote. At first he does this for the sake of discussion, for the jurors must believe beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty. As the deliberations unfold, the story quickly becomes a study of the jurors' complex personalities that range from wise, bright and empathetic to arrogant, prejudiced and merciless preconceptions, backgrounds and interactions. These provide the backdrop to juror No. 8’s attempts in convincing the other jurors the boy’s possible innocence and hence the validity of a “not- guilty”verdict.