Review: Race and justice drive stage adaptation of John Grisham’s ‘A Time to Kill’

Theatre 68 has taken on an ambitious enterprise with Rupert Holmes’ stage adaptation of John Grisham’s 1989 novel “A Time to Kill,” the group’s inaugural production in its handsomely refurbished North Hollywood space.

In a clever and keenly paced staging, director Ronnie Marmo valiantly copes with a cast of nearly 20 performers, copious scene changes and a dizzying plethora of plot points packed into a leisurely two-hour-plus running time.

Holmes’ adaptation, which played Broadway in 2015, is a strikingly old-school courtroom drama with obvious parallels to “To Kill a Mockingbird.” If you are fond of theatrical experimentation, you might find “Kill” a bit of a retread. However, if you regularly tune in to Turner Classic Movies, this well executed blast from the past could be your ticket.

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When a 10-year-old African American girl is raped by two rednecks and left struggling for life, her father, Carl Lee Hailey (Bechir Sylvain), shoots the attackers at the Mississippi courthouse where they are being arraigned. Carl Lee’s only hope of escaping the death penalty resides in homegrown lawyer Jake Brigance (Ian Robert Peterson), whose apparently hopeless defense soon makes him the target of death threats — and worse — by the local Klan.

A virtuosic design team addresses the production’s exacting technical requirements. Standouts in the solid cast include Sylvain (whose role will be played by Dayo Ade for the remainder of the run), Hansford Prince as the humorously pragmatic town sheriff, Paul Thomas Arnold as Jake’s drunken former mentor, and Mercedes Manning as the Yankee law student who embraces Jake’s cause (and later, Jake himself, a gratuitous story point we could have done without).

Peterson could use a dab more emotional restraint in his performance, especially in Jake’s final summation, which is oddly accompanied by swelling music that underscores its intrinsic sentimentality.

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“A Time to Kill”

Where: Theatre 68, 5112 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood

When: 7:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays. Ends Nov. 19.

Tickets: $30

Information: www.Theatre68.com

Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes

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