The Jury – Upstairs At The Gatehouse

The Jury continues at Upstairs At The Gatehouse, London until 16 February 2020.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

First seen in Runcorn in 2018, The Jury returns after many changes to Upstairs at the Gatehouse for a short London run.

The huge playing area is dominated by the rectangular table at which 12 jurors deliberate a murder trial. We get to know each one in the opening chorale, intricate and soaring, the voices powerfully blending. The exposition is succinct, but clearly defined. After some deliberation and competition, a social worker, Sarah (Laura Coard) is chosen as the Foreperson.

As befits the title, this work is not so much about the crime itself as the way a jury decides on a verdict. It questions how objective a juror can be, whether a direction by a judge to ignore evidence can be observed, whether something can ever be ‘unheard’.

It is also very funny. The sequence where Debbie (Bethany Grace) coerces everyone into role play, re-enacting the crime, at first seems like a gratuitous attempt to introduce some laughs, but resolves itself by making a serious point about the capacity for violence within us all. The twists and turns of what is essentially a musical about 12 people having a discussion keep you well engaged, with twists that keep coming, though I found one nearer the climax a little contrived.

The sections of dialogue are well balanced with the music, which is at its most powerful when all 12 voices are at full tilt in choral writing that at times is reminiscent of American composer John Adams, but with the voice of composer/lyricist/MD Ashley M A Walsh giving it a spin of his own.

Walsh accompanies the work on solo piano, and it’s a tribute to the writing that even when supporting 12 voices it never seems sparse. There are solos which are well integrated into the drama, notably ‘It Doesn’t Matter’ (Kaidyn Hinds) about gender, ‘My Angel’ (Laura Meaton) about a still birth, ‘I Remember’ (Laura Coard) and ‘This Isn’t My Fault’ (Charlie Culkin).

Book and lyrics by Amy Fletcher and tight direction by Joseph Meighan serve the piece well, though I must admit to a degree of frustration with some of the diction which rendered sections of the dialogue unintelligible.

The Jury is an interesting addition to the Off West End musical theatre scene and well worth a trip to Highgate for its short run. There are moments when you hear Sondheim, almost impossible not to in most new works, and moments of soul searching that brought to mind A Chorus Line. Catch it while you can.

Leon Ferguson