{"id":11408,"date":"2014-05-02T09:19:43","date_gmt":"2014-05-02T16:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=11408"},"modified":"2014-05-03T07:50:03","modified_gmt":"2014-05-03T14:50:03","slug":"critic-finds-merit-power-in-fences-the-2nd-time-around","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/critic-finds-merit-power-in-fences-the-2nd-time-around\/","title":{"rendered":"Critic finds merit, power in \u2018Fences\u2019 the 2nd time around"},"content":{"rendered":"

Woody’s [rating:4.5]<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Rose (Margo Hall) protects her son, Cory (Eddie Ray Jackson) from her enraged husband, Troy Maxson (Carl Lumbly), in \u201cFences.\u201d Photo: Ed Smith.<\/p><\/div>\n

The focus of \u201cFences,\u201d Troy Maxon, becomes \u2014 like Willie Loman of \u201cDeath of a Salesman\u201d \u2014 trapped by his own limitations, excuses and misperceptions.<\/p>\n

And, like Arthur Miller\u2019s classic everyman creation, this August Wilson character takes too much for granted.<\/p>\n

Especially his wife, Rose, and sons Cory and Lyons.<\/p>\n

Some of Troy\u2019s beliefs are highly questionable. Such as his not being able to graduate from Negro League baseball to the Majors \u2014 even after the color barrier had been broken.<\/p>\n

He blames prejudice. Rose more realistically faults his having been too old.<\/p>\n

Troy demands Cory not play high school football because he sees it as a futile activity for a black-skinned man \u2014 even though his son could win a college scholarship (and a future that might surpass his own).<\/p>\n

The frequently confrontational ex-con father, we learn, has been in a lifelong battle again racism, death and the devil.<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t excuse his being a hard drinker, a philanderer and a procrastinator \u2014 a disheartened 53-year-old who in effect holds his culture liable.<\/p>\n

His family, of course, bears the brunt of his anger.<\/p>\n

In the powerful Marin Theatre Company revival of \u201cFences,\u201d the biggest trap for Troy, robustly portrayed by Carl Lumbly, becomes the life he\u2019s settled for: <\/strong>a responsibility-burdened family man, invisible garbage collector earning only $76.20 a week, a raider of his war-injured brother\u2019s checks.<\/p>\n

In the process, he manages to disrespect his 18-year wife\u2019s loyalty, and disregard the urgent needs of his younger son.<\/p>\n

What he ultimately, and tragically, finds is entombment behind a fence he\u2019s forever building.<\/p>\n

The play, set in 1957 Pittsburgh, is a cornucopia of metaphors, starting with a fence that keeps folks in as well as out, ending with baseball lingo that precedes a predictable strikeout.<\/p>\n

A quarter of a century ago, I walked out of a pre-Broadway performance of \u201cFences\u201d in San Francisco before it was done, dismayed by what I found to be stereotypical depictions, an excess of what had yet to be labeled \u201cthe n-word,\u201d and an unfortunate emphasis on the failings of males in the black culture.<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t have been more mistaken.<\/p>\n

What I overlooked then was the major historic value of the 90-minute play, the accuracy of Wilson\u2019s reflection of how black life really was. Through this brilliant Mill Valley offering, which coincidentally opened on Jackie Robinson Day, I quickly recognized what I\u2019d missed.<\/p>\n

The cast made it easy for me. Each member was superb.<\/p>\n

Hours later, my mind can\u2019t let go of the images they created \u2014 Margo Hall\u2019s frustrated and flailing Rose, Steven Anthony Jones\u2019 drinking-buddy stint as Jim Bono, and Eddie Ray Jackson\u2019s pained poignancy as Cory.<\/p>\n

Adrian Roberts skillfully avoids being cartoonish in the role of Troy\u2019s brother, Gabe, a brain-damaged vet, and Tyee Tilghman effectively fills the role of Cory\u2019s wannabe musician older half-brother.<\/p>\n

Superb, too, is a front-yard set by scenic designer J.B. Wilson that features a home facade illustrating economic battles\u00a0 \u2014 plus a makeshift tree-limb batting device that allows Troy, momentarily, to purge his anger.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019d be remiss if I didn\u2019t cite sound designer Will McCandless\u2019 work, pinpointing between-scene recordings that parallel the storyline and action (from traditional jazz to an edgy crescendo of dissonance, finishing with mournful, almost anti-climactic blues).<\/p>\n

The Pulitzer Prize-winning play, presented in association with the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, is the second to be produced by the Marin Theatre Company in Wilson\u2019s 10-play Century Cycle (sometimes called the Pittsburgh Cycle, with each component representing a decade of the African-American experience in the United States).<\/p>\n

Jasson Minadakis, MTC artistic director, hopes to showcase the remaining eight as well.<\/p>\n

Director Derrick Sanders, who\u2019d worked with Wilson before his death in 2005, carefully built this emotionally charged, physical version so the second act moves incredibly swiftly, albeit a bit fitfully.<\/p>\n

After a slow-moving but tension-packed first act, one attendee said, \u201cI\u2019m pretty sure this train-wreck isn\u2019t going to end well.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was right, of course, if you consider only the play itself.<\/p>\n

But for theatergoers, the experience does end well, exceptionally well.<\/p>\n

\u201cFences\u201d plays at the Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley, through Sunday, May 11. Performances Tuesdays and Thursdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m.; matinees Saturdays and Sundays, 2 p.m. Tickets: $20 to $53. Information: (415) 388-5208 or marintheatre.org.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Woody’s [rating:4.5] The focus of \u201cFences,\u201d Troy Maxon, becomes \u2014 like Willie Loman of \u201cDeath of a Salesman\u201d \u2014 trapped by his own limitations, excuses and misperceptions. And, like Arthur…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11408","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"