James Earl Jones theatre, New York
There’s a strong emotional pull to this fact-based story of injustice, but on stage it’s all a little too polite to truly soar
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f the meat and potatoes of Death of a Salesman comes at too high a ticket cost, one needs venture only a few blocks south and a half-block east to get a (slightly) more affordable version of standard-issue Broadway fare. The Fear of 13, from playwright Lindsey Ferrentino, is so earnest and accessible one could almost mistake it for a filmed biopic of the sort that premieres in the fall with hopes of awards attention. Like those films, Ferrentino’s play is sturdy, dependable and mostly unremarkable.
The true story on which the play is based is certainly of note, one of all too many instances in the US of a person wrongfully imprisoned for decades. The Fear of 13 concerns Nick Yarris, who spent a troubled youth addicted to drugs and stealing cars before he was railroaded into a murder conviction, which came with a death sentence. Yarris maintained his innocence throughout his 22 years on death row, enlisting the help of various lawyers and a volunteer, Jackie Schaffer, whom he married while still incarcerated. Yarris was eventually exonerated based on DNA evidence and turned his hardship into a memoir and a documentary, which make up the narrative foundation of the play.
