Review: The Fear of 13, Donmar Warehouse

Adrien Brody makes a powerful theatrical debut in The Fear of 13 at the Donmar Warehouse

“I’m going to the electric chair because of fucking FedEx”

In all the musical chairs of shifting major artistic directorships of UK theatres, there’s something fascinating in discovering what directions so many of those venues will be taking under new leadership. For Timothy Sheader’s debut season at the Donmar Warehouse, he’s going heavy on a big musical and some big names – Natasha, Pierre, Celia, Tamsin and Samira all to come – leading off with Academy Award-winner Adrien Brody in his theatrical debut in The Fear of 13.

Feeding into the enduring appetite for all things true crime, Lindsey Ferrentino’s play adapts David Sington’s 2015 documentary about American man Nick Yarris and his wrongful imprisonment. Yarris spent an incredible 22 years on death row for a murder he didn’t commit and whilst no saint, a point the play could make a little stronger, there’s a real case to be made that he was as much a victim of the US legal system as much as anything, particularly where the not-so-wealthy are concerned.

Justin Martin’s production makes no bones about this, probing insistently and incisively at the inequities suffered by Yarris specifically, but also by society at large. Legal aid not fit for purpose; evidence misused, mislaid, mis-packaged; prison life almost sub-human. Through all of this, Brody’s Yarris finds a way to survive, thrive even, by clutching onto the crux of innocence and the human contact he’s able to establish. He’s deeply intense, as you might expect, and so deeply moving.

Around him, there’s fantastic work. As the prison worker who grows close, Nana Mensah elevates what could be awkwardly expositionary into something vividly emotional. Yarris’ fellow prisoners form a musical brotherhood (Ferdy Robert and Cyril Nri particularly good). Miriam Buether’s intelligently conceived set shows us life both behind and beyond bars. A sign of great things ahead from Sheader, a hope that there’s more theatre (in London) to come from the supremely talented Brody.

Running time: 105 minutes (without interval)
Photo: Manuel Harlan
The Fear of 13 is booking at the Donmar Warehouse until 30th November

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