Joe Sutton

This is begging for a comparison with 12 Angry Men but it's more like 6 crappy jurors. Instead of a confrontation of prejudices leading to a dramatic sea change in the jury, here we enjoy a discourse on race and crime so stalemated it sounds like it could have been made today, but opened in 95, so is now about 30 years old. Nothing has changed. The play presents the same arguments and dilemmas, and reaches no conclusion. A New York school principal has been caught buying drugs - or has he show more been framed by a corrupt system? Everything in the case revolves around him being black. Is a two tiered legal system the answer to prejudice? Are you obligated to vote your skin colour in court? Who has a right to speak out on these issues? Peppered with some hierarchy squabbles like black woman vs woman with a black boyfriend vs the one from Nebraska vs a hispanic woman who lives in a shitty neighbourhood. Who can draw the trump card when it comes to deep intersectional struggle?
It's well acted, and perhaps this was cutting edge discussion 30 years ago, but it's frankly just depressing realizing the frozen state of this conversation now. show less