Fences

FENCES caused PETE’S EYEBROWS to form a CATERPILLAR ARCH

The Dramatic Premise

Troy Maxson is a deeply troubled man.

He’s done time in prison for murdering a man whilst committing a robbery. He blames his skin colour for his faltering baseball career, when his age after leaving prison may have played a role too. Now he has a menial job in trash collection. He rails against the fact that he and his black co-workers have to unload the rubbish cans and that only white men can drive the garbage truck.

Troy ridicules his eldest son, Lyons, for pursuing a career in music rather than learning a trade. He quarrels with his youngest son, Cory, and undermines his dream of playing college football rather than working and starting to save some money.

And he dishonours the sacrifices made by his wife, Rose, by fathering a child with another woman.

Fences

Troy has promised to build a picket fence around the Maxson property. His slow progress serves a purpose in the plot, as does his eventual completion of the task.

But there are also allusions to the metaphorical fences we build to keep the things we fear out and to prevent the things we cherish from escaping.

The Moment

Deep into the final Act, Troy’s now estranged son, Cory, meets Troy’s illegitimate daughter, Raynell, who is, by this stage, seven or eight years old.

At first Raynell is wary of the man of whom she has heard, but never met. She looks at him through the corner of her eye and she whispers when spoken to.

But then Cory starts singing a ditty about his father’s dog. It’s the song his father used to sing to him when he was a child. And, in a magical moment of theatre, Raynell joins in and the half-siblings – who are only now meeting for the first time – sing the song together because they both know the words. And they each realise that their imperfect father loved them and that he did his best to give them a better life than his own.

For more information about Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Fences by August Wilson:

Fences – Sydney Theatre Company

(Originally posted on 9 April 2023.)