The Fear of 13 on Broadway: Strong Performances Carry a Script at War with Its Uneven Tone
Recent writing by Kelsey Maurine Brickl includes a review of The Fear of 13 on Broadway, focused on performance, dramaturgy, tonal stewardship, and the ethical demands of representing violence onstage.
Brickl praises the production’s cold visual austerity, sensory restraint, and the performances of Adrien Brody and Tessa Thompson, while arguing that the script too often mistakes explanation for drama and repeatedly fails to protect the tonal boundaries its subject matter requires. In her reading, the play’s deepest flaw is not simply unevenness, but the way it distributes moral attention within a story shaped by rape, murder, exoneration, and unresolved grief.
Read the review on Medium here Read the review on Substack here
