Back in 2003, director Guy Masterson scored a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe by casting stand-up comedians in a straight stage translation of Reginald Rose’s 12 Angry Men. Twenty-three years later, Masterson and writer-performer Owen O’Neill return to the same material, this time attempting a full-blown spoof.
The result is 11 ½ Angry Men, a production that trades dramatic tension for silly gags about weaponised German sausages and cushion upholstery. What might have worked as a ten-minute sketch for a late-night gala founders over eighty sluggish minutes at the Pleasance EICC.
Perhaps predictably, O’Neill’s script flips the original premise on its head. Eleven members of a 1950s New York jury are eager to acquit an 18-year-old accused of patricide. The lone holdout demanding a conviction is Juror 8—played by Ian Coppinger, whose compact stature provides the play’s titular fraction. Stephen K Amos presides over the table as a haughty English foreman, struggling to maintain order while a room of comic veterans bickers over procedural details.
Yet the show never seems to decide what it wants to be: a quasi-serious dramedy or a farce. As a result, there are too few punchlines to carry the hour as a laughter fest, nor enough serious narrative for a very talented cast to get their teeth into.
High effort, low yield
That failure does not stem from a lack of hustle or talent. As a group, this ensemble shares obvious chemistry; they simply have nowhere to invest it. Amos brings a sophisticated gravitas to his flustered foreman, while Tom Stade supplies his trademark gruff good humour to the table. Coppinger delivers a sharp, grounded performance as the dogged holdout, anchoring scenes that would otherwise dissolve into aimless noise. Making his Fringe debut, Joe Pasquale brings an unpredictable energy, the ‘old man’ at the table, prone to outbursts of tap dance. Phil Nichol and Glenn Wool project with vigour—Wool in particular seizing the final quarter with a frantic, unhinged, if somewhat unintelligible rant.
“The result is 11 ½ Angry Men, a production that trades dramatic tension for silly gags about weaponised German sausages and cushion upholstery.“
To be fair, there are glimpses of what could have been here and there, but all the chemistry and comic talent on stage cannot resolve structural issues with a script that should have been ironed out months ago. Not even a theatre maker like Masterson can spin gold from this theatrical straw, and in a space as expansive as the (blessedly air-conditioned EICC Pentland Theatre), dialogue is easily lost, whilst repeated scenes full of rapid-fire banter go round in pointless, slow circles.
11 ½ Angry Men is not an absolute disaster; it’s just entirely unremarkable. However, the waste of talent and potential here is really rather sad. What should have been one of the titanic highlights of the 2026 Fringe is instead…OK. I’m not OK with that.
Show details
Venue: Venue 150b: Pleasance at EICC, 150 Morrison Street, EH3 8EE (Google Maps)
Date(s): Wed 05 Aug to Sat 22 Aug (17 shows)
Time(s): 2:30pm (80 mins)
Age recommendation: 12+
Price: From £15
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