Actor Adrien Brody is to take on his first stage role in London, in a play which follows the true story of a man who was wrongly convicted of murder.
The US star won an Oscar aged 29 for 2002’s The Pianist, making him the youngest ever best actor winner.
Later this year, Brody will appear at the Donmar Warehouse in the world premiere of The Fear of 13, written by Lindsey Ferrentino.
The play depicts the story of Nick Yarris, a man who spent 22 years on death row for a crime he did not commit.
Brody said: “I love the theatre, and although I have not been on the stage in many years, I have been searching for the right material and this was so clearly the one.”
In the early 1980s, Yarris was charged with the kidnapping and attempted murder of a police officer, after a routine traffic stop in Pennsylvania led to a confrontation. Yarris was later tried and acquitted.
However, while awaiting trial, he became a suspect in a different case. After reading a news story about a woman who was raped and murdered, Yarris claimed he knew who was responsible, in an attempt to curry favour with the authorities.
When the man Yarris named as the perpetrator – whom he wrongly thought was dead – was found not to have been involved, Yarris himself became the main suspect.
He was then charged himself with the abduction, rape and murder of Linda Mae Craig. Yarris was found guilty and sentenced to death in 1982, aged 21.
He remained in prison and on death row until 2004, when he was released after DNA evidence was re-examined.
A few years after his release, he wrote a memoir called Seven Days to Live, later reissued as The Fear of 13. The play is based on a 2015 documentary by David Sington.
