The Tamesis
watch 13 fear During quarantine, Ferentino watched Yaris’ account of his decades spent on death row on Netflix. “He was able to articulate his experience so dramatically and so energetically, I think in large part because he spent 22 years in solitary confinement with his only company being books,” Ferentino said. “He had a very unique way of speaking, unlike anyone I’d ever seen before, and he was able to paint these pictures in prose.”
The photos vividly depict the loneliness and silence that filled Yaris’s reading until he met Jackie. Jackie, a volunteer with the Western Pennsylvania Coalition Against the Death Penalty, visits inmates to provide emotional connection and support. Directed by David Cromer and starring a cast that includes Nick’s childhood friends, his fellow inmates and his legal team, 13 fear This book unflinchingly examines America’s unjust systems.
The story had a different reaction on Broadway than it did in London. 13 fear The show premieres in October 2024 at the Donmar Warehouse (earning Brody an Olivier nomination), where the death penalty has been abolished since 1965. “There are varying levels of complicity and outrage among viewers,” Ferentino said. “The story is new, but it’s not new to people. The system is designed in a way that when people are ‘put away,’ both literally and metaphorically, you don’t have to think about these stories. But we are all part of this system. We are all complicit in living in a country and a culture that creates stories like Nick’s.”
Exploring the complexities of Nick’s character—he didn’t commit the crime for which he was imprisoned, but did break the law in other ways—deepens the character’s humanity and highlights the system’s dehumanizing treatment of those convicted of crimes.
“This character is not a saint,” Cromer said. “He’s not a perfect man. That doesn’t mean he deserves to die on death row. There’s a huge ambiguity with all of these people.”
Photo: Emilio Madrid
An important part of Nick’s story is Jackie. In her Broadway debut, Thompson also presented a real person on stage, although she never met her character’s inspiration, as Yaris struggled to protect her identity while filming the documentary. Thompson’s performance of Jackie’s journey “from curiosity to compassion,” as she puts it, was inspired by the actress’s personal experiences that were similar to those of her character: A few years ago, she volunteered to speak on the phone with an inmate. The experience was eye-opening and the timing of Ferentino’s introduction was fortuitous.
