Fences

August Wilson’s Fences, a Pulitzer-prize winning masterwork of theatre, has reached Broadway once again.  While I may have an impression that the play is let down only by not having that glorious ensemble of characters that his other masterwork (in my mind) has, namely Joe Turner’s Come And Gone, it is certainly as joy to watch.  It may not be Joe Turner or The Piano Lesson (my second favorite Wilson play), there is something special in Wilson’s work.

The original production featured James Earl Jones and Mary Alice, both Tony winners for their performances.  One difference this time around is that the role Alice played was considered a Featured role, and Viola Davis is considered a Lead.  The role, Rose Maxson, is very much a reactor to the main character, her husband Troy Maxson.

Troy is an interesting theatrical and literary character.  He is ultimately revealed as a man who doesn’t look around enough to let himself grow with the times, rather choosing to fence himself in.  Quite literary, in fact, as the play builds.  A man who rose through the first half of the century, witness to both world wars, the depression, and, as the play takes place, the early days of the Civil Rights movement – along with everything in between.

The popularization of baseball, and its integration, play pivotal roles in the character’s development, and Troy never seemed to be able to identify the slow change around him.  He does, however, remain the boy thrown out of his father’s home, and the ideals and values of his fourteen year-old self never grow.  There’s so much to say and talk about with the play and the character, I really could go on for hours about it.  I relish a larger discussion, and anyone interested should definitely ping me.

This production is most notable for its casting of Denzel Washington as Troy.  Washington is one of the great actors of our age, and has a pair of Oscars to prove it.  His best dramatic skill is to build emotion so that so nothing appears unrealistic in its generation, no matter how MacGuffin-esque his character arc may be.  There’s a carefully modulated, yet still very smooth emotional development at work, and it’s really something special to watch.  While it may be natural skill to evolve emotions that well, Washington has put in enormous work to develop that evolutionary tool set.  However, in an August Wilson play, the characters’ emotional developments are already well constructed and entirely natural.  As a result, Washington overdoes it during a few moments, simply flexing his well-honed acting muscles.  Regardless of those moments, and mostly because his character is something over an over-shooter who is prone to acting out (thank you, gin), Washington does shine, and shine brightly.

When I saw him last onstage, in Julius Caesar, for some reason, it stuck in my mind that, while technically brilliant, something about his stage presence seemed off.  Much like Scarlett Johansson in A View From The Bridge, there’s an intimacy in his screen work that doesn’t exactly translate to the stage.  This time around, there is more of a comfort-level in the work.  I’m not sure if it’s his stage partner in Davis, who really owns whatever stage she’s on, or the material that he more readily connects with.  Nevertheless, it works.

What also works is Davis’s performance as Rose.  Most notable for her few moments stealing the entire film Doubt from Meryl Streep, Davis is a theatre vet who really, really owns the stage.  Every time her Rose stood listening to Troy, my eyes always drifted over to watch her.  Much like Washington, she also has that honed emotional development, but there’s never any feeling that she could run off the character at all.  She blends the intimacy of her role, and draws the audience to her rather than playing to it.

While it might seem like a fairly obvious method, it’s not nearly employed enough.  Rose could be a mess of yelling and anger, which do come now & again, but Davis plays it inwardly.  Her anger at Troy has claws, but her sharpest edge cuts back at herself.  While I’ve read the play a few times, I’ve never considered how internal those moments can be.  It’s hard to write superlatives for days on end, but I could very easily do it for Davis.  While Washington is the star, Davis is the show.

Rounding out the cast are four men who each deliver strong, if somewhat stilted performances.  And the stilted, I believe has more to do with Kenny Leon’s direction than anything else.  Mykelti Williamson plays Troy’s war-injured, mentally impaired brother Gabriel.  There’s a bit of caricature in Wilson’s writing for Gabe, and Williamson does his best to overcome it.  But, Leon allows Williamson to overact his entrance, which should be much more subdued.  Williamson does a fine job overall, but his initial stage time is a bit jarring and doesn’t, perhaps by design, fit with the way the other actors are performing their roles.

Stephen McKinley Henderson is Jim Bono, Troy’s long-time friend.  Henderson is a superb actor, and received a Tony nomination for his work.  While the role lacks genuinely huge moments and is not that showy, there is a speech late in the first act that is harrowingly delivered.  I’m a bit surprised by the nomination given the meager time and lack of flash, but the work is solid (and it’s a generally a weak Broadway year).

Russell Hornsby plays Troy’s son from a previous relationship.  He has a few moments of genuinely stunning emotion, and delivers them quite well.  If only his silly hat didn’t mar my memory of his performance.  Chris Chalk is arguably the weakest in the cast.  As Troy and Rose’s son Corey, he’s meant to be a football playing, somewhat emasculated boy.  It’s a difficult blend of character traits, and while Chalk isn’t bad, I didn’t find him up to par with the excellence around him.

Throughout the play, Wilson has Troy singing segments from a song “Old Dog Blue”, which Corey and his younger sister sing near the conclusion.  The song is about a dog that lived hard and made it to heaven, something as a metaphor for Troy himself.  Like a dog that can’t learn new tricks, Troy doesn’t realize the changes around him.  He fights for his life, his values, and his mistakes up until the end.  And while that life may not be pretty or as joyous as he may want, it is after all, his life to live.  Ours to watch, or at least glimpse into.

Wilson’s ability to create a character, and characters, who’s life/lives are able to be seen and understood far beyond their experience in front of the audience is a gift that every person should open.  While this production is in limited run, it is definitely worth viewing.  After last year’s production of Joe Turner, to see a second excellent revival of an August Wilson play is something the Broadway community should, and can, be proud of.  Troy would like that.  Perhaps The Piano Lesson next year?  We can hope.

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