5/28/2023 0 Comments Fences 1987 full play![]() ![]() But Wilson's achievement is to create a towering character full of contradictions: Troy, at different times, is roistering and responsible, debauched and dignified, a victim of history and a domestic tyrant, not least in his relations with his son. The symbolism of the fence Troy intermittently builds to ward off death is a bit clunky and there is an overlong coda trying to make sense of his life. ![]() The big question is whether the thwarted dreams of Troy's middle-aged black generation can be redeemed in a changing America. Now he shifts trash but is sustained by his loving wife, Rose, and craves a better future for his son, Cory, who is being courted by a college football scout. ![]() Gradually we piece together his history from his slum upbringing to his 15 years in the slammer and his period as a baseball star in a white sporting culture. The action is set in 1957 on the front porch of Troy's house in Pittsburgh where he works as a garbageman. Troy is on stage for most of the play's near-three hours and what we hear is his extraordinary story. Given that James Earl Jones created the part, there are some big boots to fill and I can only report that Henry confirms he is an actor of massive presence and emotional power. Now he takes on the titanic role of Troy Maxson in August Wilson's Fences which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1987 and which is part of a ten-play cycle about the African-American experience. L enny Henry has won his spurs as a Shakespearean actor in Othello and The Comedy of Errors. ![]()
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