Fences

AWARD-WINNING PLAY AND UNIVERSAL STORY

Fences won the Pulitzer prize for Drama in 1987, the year it opened. Troy Maxson - Fences' protagonist - is regarded as one of the 20th century's most poignant characters. In director Pauline Randall's highly acclaimed revival of August Wilson's Fences, the immensely complex Troy is masterfully held by Lenny Henry who, though better known as a comedian, affirming himself a highly capable tragic actor. He brings rich gravitas to the thought-provoking drama about thwarted dreams, paternal failings and an Afro-American family trying to hold itself together.

WHAT IS FENCES ABOUT?

Fences is set in Pennsylvania in 1957 and follows the story of Troy Maxson, a 53-year-old man with a dappled history, in his Pittsburgh home with his wife Rose and their 17-year-old son Cory.

Troy is building a fence around his yard, whether to keep people out or in is uncertain. Troy's story unfurls, piece by piece. His childhood was difficult; he dipped into crime, and spent 15 years in prison. This was followed by period of baseball success. A formidable player, he blames white-dominated domain of sportsmanship for denying him his chance at professionalism. Now a refuse collector, Troy seems settled and respectable man with a soft spot for booze, but gradually we see beneath the humour as a his darker traits of resentment, bitterness, brutality and his failings as a father, a trait of that extends further than this one man.