"12 Angry Men" Update - Opening Night Tomorrow, Friday, February 17 - Tickets Are Going Fast

In a few hours, I will head up I-95 for a final dress rehearsal of "12 Angry Men." We open tomorrow night at 8:00 at Portsmouth, NH's Players' Ring.

Here is an excerpt from today's Portsmouth Herald Spotlight article about the play:

Brownwater Productions presents "Twelve Angry Men" by Reginald Rose at the Players' Ring theater in Portsmouth, Feb. 17 through March 4. Shows are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. 7 p.m. Sundays, 2 p.m. Sunday, March 4.

On a sweltering August night in New York City, 12 men are locked in a jury room to decide the fate of a 16-year-old kid from the slums. A murder case that appears open and shut. Eleven vote guilty. One refuses to go along. The clock is ticking. Can the one hold out, and persuade the rest to put aside prejudices and agendas and simply look at the case?

"Suppose you were the one on trial?"

"I'm not used to supposing. But I'll try one. Suppose you talk us all out of this and the kid really did knife his father?"

"Twelve Angry Men" is a blistering character study of the American melting pot and the judicial system that is supposed to keep it in check.

Written by Reginald Rose and directed by Dan Stowell and Kaitlyn Huwe, starring Jamie Bradley, Scott Caple, Al Chase, Shawn Crapo, Eric Doucet, G. Matthew Gaskell, Ed Hinton, Todd Hunter, Steve Johnson, Brian Kelly, Dave Ostrowski, and Matthew Schofield.

Tickets are $15 General and $12 Students/Seniors.

The Players' Ring, 105 Marcy St., Portsmouth, (603) 436-8123, www.playersring.org.

We were told last night that some of the performances are already almost completely sold out. I can tell you from an insider's perspective that this play promises to be one that people will be talking about for quite awhile on the NH Seacoast.

If you plan to attend, I encourage you to go on the Player's Ring website (click on the title above) and buy your tickets now so that you are not disappointed by "Sold Out" signs the day of the performance you had hoped to attend.

See you in Portsmouth.

Enjoy!

Al

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20120216-ENTERTAIN-202160321

http://www.playersring.org/

Review of "Gypsy Boy" by Mikey Walsh

In the past few years, there have been literary scandals in which it has been revealed that stories reported to be memoirs of deeply troubled individuals have been made up out of whole cloth. So, any discerning reader much approach a pseudonymous work with some degree of skepticism. Having laid that caveat on the table, I must say that I found "Gypsy Boy" to be both deeply troubling and deeply moving. The degree of violence that made up the every day life of "Mikey Walsh" is almost unimaginable. From the age of five, the young boy from a historic Romany family living in England experienced savage beating from his father - all aimed toward preparing him to inherit the crown as one of the Gypsy communities top bare knuckle fighter. But Mikey was wired differently than other Gypsy males, and suffered humiliation of every sort - physical, verbal, emotional and sexual.

As a teenager, he finally found a champion who helped him to escape from this dark world. he writes now as an adult looking back on his troubled past with equal parts loathing and nostalgia. I agree with other reviewers who have likened Walsh's memoir to "Angela's Ashes" and "Running with Scissors." He shines a light into a dark corner of the world that is seldom accessible to outsiders. His courage and honesty are laudable and illuminating.