Fences

Synopsis

Wilson's 1983 play, which forms part of the late dramatist's epic ten-play cycle about the black experience in 20th-century America, centres on Troy Maxson, a former baseball star who is now a garbageman and consumed by bitterness.

Our Review:

25 March 2013

Fences is Lenny Henry’s first stage appearance in a non-Shakespearean play and consequently a transition from the comparative safety of a known vehicle into straight acting, and in a piece which is not familiar to the majority of audiences who will flock to see him. So the first thing to say is that Lenny Henry is good, and good in that way that after about 30 seconds you forget it’s him and become engrossed in Troy Maxson, a garbage truck worker from Pittsburgh. Troy is a big man – the magnetic core of a fractured family, centre of a social circle, natural leader at the depot, not afraid to stand up for all his rights at work, at home and in matters of the heart. He is at once a lovable husband who dutifully hands over his wages each week to wife Rose (Tanya Moodie) and a bully to both his sons.

Set in 1957 in Wilsons’ birth town of Pittsburgh Fences is one of the playwrights celebrated cycle of 10 plays, each one set in a different decade of the 20th century. Wilson is ...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

No reviews yet

Click here to add your review