‘The Fear of 13’ Doesn’t Entirely Add Up

Ferrentino’s choice to make Nick look like he might be an unreliable narrator thus becomes bizarre; it certainly works against the clearer passions of the documentary. If you don’t know the back story, then the play’s irresolute (and then abandoned) hints that Nick might be untrustworthy create a certain slack tediousness. And if you do know that Yarris was (famously) exonerated, then they feel like time wasted. Ferrentino’s dramatic interpolations, particularly the wan attempt to expand Jacki’s character, sap the directness of the original account, and perhaps even harm it as advocacy.