One of the must-see plays at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival is a parody of Reginald Rose’s classic 1957 12 Angry Men, that was a hit of the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe.
With equal humour and cruelty, this version of the show is titled 11 1/2 Angry Men, due to the shortness of one of the jurors, played brilliantly by Ian Coppinger.
The basic premise of the show remains the same as the original. 12 men, who are indeed angry, sit on a jury to determine the of a 16 year old boy, who is on trial for the murder of his father. This time, however, it’s being argued that had had have fallen on, and subsequently choked on a sausage. Or was it a bit of “sausage sorcery”?
Set in 1958 (which, as they point out, is why there aren’t any women on the jury), the electric chair is on the table should they mark him as guilty.
The parody makes another major shift from the original by having 11 of the men start out with an innocent verdict (they thought he was guilty in the original). But the “half” man keeps them from going home early by voting guilty. It’s then up to him to argue his case, much to the displeasure of the rest of the jury.
The script is brilliant, with some clever alliterative moments (the aforementioned “Sausage Sorcery”) and enough time given to each of the 12 actors to make them archetypes of a particular type of angry man. With less than 80 minutes on stage, everything stays pretty surface level for the characters, which works well for the show.
The staging was simple, clever, and well executed. The stage is set up to look like a blueprint, with a table for the 12 men to debate the merits of the case, and the rest of the staging – primarily the connected bathroom – represented by the blueprint on the ground, that drapes ever so slightly over the edge of the stage.
A comedian who is no stranger to Australian shores, Stephen K Amos leads the cast as Juror #1, who is the sole British man on the jury. He’s also their foreman, and keeps repeating that everyone’s behaviour is making him question the validity of the American legal system. Adding some layer to this is that the comedian actually wanted to be a criminal barrister at one point in his life.
But this isn’t a sort of parody where every note is delivered for the sake of laughs. The show works because, as in the original, the proceedings are engaging and the story is one where you very much want to find out what happened. Comedians like Phil Nichol, Tom Stade and Joe Pasquale help make up the rest of the cast of 12, and all play their roles with a serious tone. It’s in the ridiculousness of the situation, the clever script, and the absurdity of some of the characters’ nature where we find the humour.
Production wise, voice were sometimes difficult to hear and understand, due to the nature of the staging and the sound of the venue. I do think this would have worked better in a smaller, more intimate room. But I imagine with the fairly stacked cast of comedians, there was the anticipation of high demand for the show.
Though the day I attended wasn’t busy enough to justify that argument, with thousands of daily performances, and hundreds on at the same time, it’s hard to predict what show’s are going to meet the capacity, and which aren’t. Crowds really should be coming out to see it though.
If you love a tight 80 minute play, with a truly stacked and hilarious cast, then this show is for you. I loved it. And I’ll never look at sausage the same way again.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
11 1/2 Angry Men continues at Pentland Theatre at Pleasance at EICC during the Edinburgh Fringe until 22nd August. For tickets and more details head HERE.
The author attended the production as a guest on 12th August 2026.
Photo Credit: Marion Kim
