Margo Hall as Rose and Carl Lumbly as Troy Maxson in August Wilson’s Fences, running at Marin Theatre Company in Mill Valley through May 11. Photo by Ed Smith.
FENCES: Drama by August Wilson. Directed by Derrick Sanders. Marin Theatre Company ( in association with Lorraine Hansberry Theatre) Marin Theatre Company (MTC), 397 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley, CA 94941. www.marintheatre.org or| (415) 388-5208 or boxoffice@marintheatre.org
EXTENDED THROUGH MAY 11, 2014
FENCES is powerful but partially flawed at MTC. [rating:4] (4/5 stars)
August Wilson was a giant in the theatrical world and his legacy will live on for years. His magnum opus “The Pittsburgh Cycle” often called “The Century Cycle” is a 10 play compendium; Fences and The Piano Lesson were awarded Pulitzer Prizes for Drama and Fences won Tony Awards for its 1987 and the 2010 revival on Broadway. The plays are set in each decade beginning in 1900 and ending in 1990s depicting the African-American experience in the twentieth century mostly in the Hill District of Pittsburgh.
Fences is set in the 50s and briefly extends into the 60s for its dramatic dénouement. Carl Lumbly and Margo Hall play the major characters Troy Maxson and wife Rose with varying degrees of intensity and conviction. They are ably supported by Eddie Ray Jackson (Cory), Steven Anthony Jones (Jim Bono), Adrian Roberts (Gabriel), Tyee Tilghman (Lyons) and Jade Sweeney (12 year old Raynell alternating with Makaelah Bashir) who provide expressive sounding boards for Troy’s diatribes and justifications for his actions.
Marin Theatre’s production, in conjunction with the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, as directed by Derrick Sanders is by far the darkest version to play the boards in the Bay Area. J.B Wilson’s powerful stunning set adds timbre to the action. Lumbly’s gives a mostly one-dimensional depiction of the bitter Troy now a garbage worker who was baseball star in the Negro leagues denied a position in the all-white major leagues. Troy dominates his family, especially the youngest son Cory whose athletic abilities have the potential to outshine Troy’s feats. Rose is the faithful wife who attempts to intercede between the two.
The construction of the play relies on long external/internal monologs to define character by vocalizing previous experiences. Such construction requires superb acting and directing to prevent the evening from becoming long and tedious. Marin Theatre’s production is a qualified success with sections of brilliance interspersed with questionable directorial conceits. Margo Hall, a Bay Area favorite, can pull any audience into the play and does so for most of the evening. Inexplicably in the confrontational scene when Rose learns about Troy’s unfaithfulness, director Sanders allows her to wildly flail her arms about rather than reflect the strong deeply hurt matriarch of the family and lover to Troy.
The fence referred to by the play’s title is finished in the final act. Rose wants the fence built to keep what belongs to her inside and what belongs outside, outside. It is not immediately known why Troy wants to build it, but Wilson gives him a dramatic monologue in the second act conceptualizing it as an allegory—to keep the Grim Reaper away.
Steven Anthony Jones as Troy’s best friend Jim Bono nails the line, “Some people build fences to keep people out and other people build fences to keep people in. Rose wants to hold on to you all.” Considering the standing ovation on this second night of the show, you may have to break down the fences to see it.
Production Staff: Directed by Derrick Sanders; Scenic designer J. B. Wilson; Lighting designer Kurt Landisman, Costume designer Christine Crook; Composer Chris Houston; Sound designer Will McCandles; Stage Manager Jessica Aguilar; Properties Artisan Seren Helday; Casting director Meg Pearson; Dramaturg Margot Melcon; Assistant director Edgar Gonzalez.
FEATURING: Margo Hall; Eddie Ray Jackson; Steven Anthony Jones; Carl Lumbly; Adrian Roberts; Tyee Tilghman with Makaelah Bashir and Jade Sweeney and Michael J. Asberry (understudy).
Kedar K. Adour, MD
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