Tuesday night I went to Pioneer Theatre's critically acclaimed production of Fences, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by August Wilson. As you may remember, I recently saw Denzel Washington's film adaptation and had a somewhat lukewarm reaction to it but that made me even more curious to see it on the stage. Troy Maxson (Michael Anthony Williams) is a man with so many demons that he torments everyone around him: his brother Gabriel (Jefferson A. Russell) who was injured in the war, his long-suffering wife Rose (Gayle Samuels), his friend Bono (Jeorge Bennett Watson), and his sons Lyons (Biko Eisen-Martin) and Cory (Jimmie "J.J." Jeter). I still found the character of Troy to be incredibly flawed but Williams' portrayal was much more sympathetic, in my opinion. Whereas Washington's version of Troy was always angry, I felt that Williams gave the character a certain vulnerability and his Troy was wounded rather than angry. I think this story is much better suited to the immediacy and intimacy of the stage and this is especially true of the fence. All of the action takes place in the yard which makes Troy's environment much more claustrophobic than in the film version. In the final scenes, the stage is dominated by the fence with Troy inside the yard and all of the other characters on the other side. It is extremely powerful and serves to highlight Troy's isolation. I highly recommend this outstanding production which runs at PTC through January 21. Tickets may be purchased here.
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