Excellent 'Fences' Production Knows No Boundaries

August Wilson's "Fences" provocatively delineates main events in the life of a black family in the 1950s. The success of the production stems primarily from the excellent lead, Shannon Bryant '99, who plays Troy Maxson, a garbage collector whose race foils his dreams of playing major league baseball. Fortunately, the supporting characters also hold their own.

The plot concerns the trials and tribulations of a black lower-middle-class family in 1957. The play revolves around three themes: sports, death and (not surprisingly) the image of fences. Sports provides a major point of contention in the family. Troy's son Corey (Dahni-El Giles '99) wants to play football and win a scholarship to college. But Troy was discriminated against while playing baseball when he was younger and his bitterness clouds his dealings with his son.

Troy's other obsession involves death: Even from the opening scene he tries to deny its inevitability. Ultimately, death pervades his whole life, first through his mistress's death and eventually his own.

Here Wilson introduces the fruitful fences imagery. For much of the play Troy is trying to build a fence for his yard. Fences serve a twofold purpose--to keep people in or out--and both aspects appear in the play. When Troy's wife, Rose (Dolyta Avant '99), is concerned about keeping her family together, the fences serve to limit Troy's distance from his family. When Corey leaves because of his father, the fences exaggerate the importance of the fight between the two and keep Corey away from the house until his father's funeral.

The characters are certainly the most compelling part of this play, and the cast interacts seamlessly and eloquently. In fact, their portrayals are so accurate that they lead to one minor challenge for the audience: the faithfully rendered accents can be tough to understand but soon become familiar. For the most part, the actors' gestures and acting are fluid, with the one exception of Avant, who was a bit wooden at times, but her subtle dramatic intonation amply made up for this weakness.

But the strongest acting by far belongs to Bryant. In the daunting role of Troy, he is believable and absorbing. His success can be traced to the little quirks he used to make Troy a real person. His laugh--closer to a cackle--embodies many of Troy's attitudes: triumphant and powerful, but at the same time with undercurrents of insecurity and suppressed regret.

For example, at one point Troy nearly blames his wife Rose for driving him to seek a mistress, but at the same time feels bad about the situation and apologizes. Even as he alienates his friends and family--his wife, his two sons, his best friend Bono (Ian Christopher Hunt '99)--he is insecure. Covering a challenging range of emotions, Bryant successfully portrays all his character's complexities and nuances.

Alex Olch '99 does an excellent job with the lighting, which is creative and particularly dramatic at the very beginning.

The one possible complaint about the play is its length. Two and a half hours was more than enough time to get to know the angst and motivations that drive the main characters. Wilson's writing might have been pared down a little.

"Fences" succeeds as a compelling portrayal of black life in a time of great discrimination just on the verge of the Civil Rights movement. Yet the main themes and the dysfunctionality in many of the relationships can relate to the viewers' own lives. The play raises provocative questions that can only be answered by introspection. This cathartic effect is a testimony to how deeply the superb acting affects the viewer.