The Fear of 13 review

Adrien Brody and Tessa Thompson in The Fear of 13 (Emilio Madrid)

A better showcase for Adrien Brody's acting chops than for the telling the real-life story of Nick Yarris, The Fear of 13 is an uneven mixture of docudrama, true crime and even rom-com. There's a solid play in there waiting to come out, but the storytelling gets lost amid the slow pace of Lindsey Ferrentino's script and director David Cromer's production.

The play, based on a 2015 documentary film, follows Yarris during the 22 years he spent on death row in Pennsylvania for a brutal 1981 crime he didn't commit. Not told in chronological order, the story begins with an incarcerated Yarris (Brody) meeting Jacki Miles (Tessa Thompson), a volunteer researching conditions on death row. As the two bond over their shared love of books, she takes a special interest in Yarris, and soon she's working to help him get his conviction overturned, and marrying him. 

DNA is still in its infancy, so testing for it, and getting it admitted as evidence, was an even longer and more complicated process than it is now. Sadly, the story of a wrongly convicted prisoner seeking exonceration isn't novel, and Ferrentino tries to beef up her plot with a lighthearted take on the romance between Yarris and Jacki that's tonally at odds with the rest of the play. 

It's only in the last half-hour that The Fear of 13 really hits its stride, as what sent Nick down a path toward drugs and petty crime is revealed, along with the circumstances that lead to his arrest and conviction. 

The wonderfully emotive Brody pours heart and soul into his character, and he's likely to be remembered at Tony time for his performance. Despite the pain and injustice he suffered, this Yarris doesn't emerge as a rich and real enough character to make you want to spend nearly two hours in his company.