The Fear Of 13 - Donmar Warehouse

After failing to obtain tickets during my previous roughly 58 attempts I had pretty much resigned to the idea I won't be seeing this play live.....only to randomly check Donmar's website tonight due to the multiple bumps to this thread on here.....and lo and behold .....a single ticket just waiting for me to grab it 😮😮😮

And grab it I did, I'm very pleased 😎

Thanks everyone for indirectly helping out lol

Circle ticket for tonight on the Donmar site

Does anyone know how badly restricted the 'behind the actors' seats are?

Where are these?

Thanks Steve

Was worried I am there but am not

Very bizarrely I forgot to add the show to my diary and subsequently missed it last week

Very grateful to the team who got me a ticket at short notice and I shall see this evening

Saw this last night and vastly preferred it to the one-man-narrated documentary it's based on.

The need to retain vast tracts of stuff the main character, Nick Yarris, observed in prison, fascinating stuff that doesn't particularly relate to him, holds this back from being compelling dramatically at the beginning. However, as Adrien Brody's death row prisoner develops a relationship with Nana Mensah's Jackie, an activist for the better treatment of prisoners, the story develops an emotional and dramatic dimension that vastly lifts our sense of investment in this important and compelling story.

Brody is charisma personified, and Mensah consummately bridges the gap between us and him.

Some spoilers follow. . .

The difference between this show and the original documentary is threefold:-

(1) Scenes with other prisoners are enacted rather than merely narrated, which is more immersive and dramatic;

(2) The time structure is more interesting in its presentation, jumping around in time as and when necessary to increase intrigue; and

(3) The character of Nana Mensah's Jackie, who was omitted from the documentary and whose identity is still disguised here, adds an emotional connection to the material that builds to something intensely moving.

As the rotten policeman who arrested Yarris, and also as the reluctant Christian lawyer who represented Yarris, Michael Fox really brings it, oozing entitled sleaze in the former role and entitled self-absorption in the second.

Meanwhile, the whole ensemble duck and dive usefully and effortlessly between multiple roles of guards and prisoners.

But it is Adrien Brody's embodiment of the will-to-live under horrendous circumstances, his gift for storytelling, and his slow-bonding and with Mensah's Jackie that make it all add up to something.

The moment this clicked for me as a drama was when Mensah's Jackie takes a risk and gives this death row inmate her phone number. Mensah makes you feel the danger and Brody makes you feel the breakthrough, and it all started working for me right there.

Anyway, it's an astonishing story and this is a great dramatic way of telling it. And Brody burns up the stage in his London debut in an immersive, emotive and unforgettable way.

4 and a half stars from me.

Poll now added,as you asked so politely. 🙂

Ticket on the Noticeboard for tonight 23/10

Exceptional. Such great writing and Adrien Brody giving a top class performance. Don’t miss it.

The real Nick Yarris in the audience this evening - a very emotional curtain call.

Saw this last night and thought it was brilliant. I loved the staging and how the space was used. Performances were brilliant and I felt really amongst the action sitting in the area inside the walkway.