‘A Time to Kill,’ theater review

Now on Broadway — “A Time to Kill.”

A better title — “A Time to Think About Errands I Need To Run.”

Unfortunately, there are plenty of moments to mull to-do lists during this paint-by-numbers dramatization of John Grisham’s 1989 best seller.

Grisham based the book on a gruesome rape case. He placed it in fictional, early-’80s Clanton, Miss., where honest but ambitious lawyer Jake Brigance (Sebastian Arcelus) defends Carl Lee Hailey (John Douglas Thompson), a black man accused of murdering two men who raped his 10-year-old daughter.

The movie made Matthew McConaughey a star. No such luck for Arcelus in the Rupert Holmes adaptation, which is directed by Ethan McSweeny. Credible as Arcelus is — his performance really grew on me — the material lets him down.

Jake is earnest and sometimes eloquent, but not very interesting. Same goes for the trial pitting Jake against district attorney Rufus R. Buckley (Patrick Page, aptly oily) under judge Omar Noose (Fred Dalton Thompson). The case comes down to an insanity plea, with lawyers using expert psychiatrist witnesses in a game of shrink versus shrink.

The story is less about what happened and why, and more about how people respond and change. But these main characters lack depth, while secondary ones possess one trait apiece. Jake’s assistant, Ellen Roark (Ashley Williams), is brittle; Carl Lee’s wife, Gwen (Tonya Pinkins), is earnest; Jake’s mentor Lucien Wilbanks (Tom Skerritt) is a boozy punch line.

Like last year’s botched book-to-stage experiment “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “A Time to Kill” feels like a copy of a copy.

The action unfolds in and around the slatted-wood courtroom. The stage constantly spins and stops to showcase various perspectives, while the audience becomes the jury. Ironically, this take by Holmes (“The Mystery of Edwin Drood”) lacks a strong point of view.

Courtroom claustrophobia can create drama. But there’s no tension here. Worse, there’s no context. Clanton is roiling with racial hate. Jake risks his career, his wife and child (never seen in the play) and his life for the case. That doesn’t come through. We’re told about a burned-down house. We’re given a report about racist chants. But we don’t see or hear them.

Charged with the dramatic felony of telling instead of showing, “A Time to Kill” is guilty. Throw the book at it.

jdziemianowicz@nydailynews.com