Fences is a moving story about family, racial injustice, broken dreams and the barriers we build between ourselves and the people we love.
The play opens with Troy Maxson (Ray Fearon) enjoying a drink and talking with his old friend Bono (Everal A Walsh) in the family yard. Troy remains bitter about the professional baseball career he believes he was denied because of his race. His wife, Rose (Madeline Appiah), gently suggests that his age may also have played a part.
Photos by Tyler Fayose
What struck me most was how Troy’s disappointment in life affects his family. His son Cory (Josh Tedeku) dreams of becoming a professional football player, but Troy insists that he give up this ambition and find a steady job. A father whose own dreams were crushed has become the very person who crushes his son’s.
The fence is a simple but powerful symbol. Is it there to keep people out or to keep the people we love close to us? For Rose, it represents family and togetherness. For Troy, however, it reflects the barriers he builds between himself and those closest to him.
Troy’s affair and the birth of his daughter, Raynell (Aita Mushuku), lead to one of the play’s most moving moments. When Raynell’s mother dies in childbirth, Rose agrees to raise the baby with grace and understanding, while making her own boundaries clear. She tells Troy: “From right now… this child got a mother. But you a womanless man.” It is a powerful expression of Rose’s strength and compassion. Raynell becomes a symbol of hope and new beginnings. In the final scenes, she tends her little garden in the same yard where so much bitterness and conflict have taken place.
Another fascinating character is Gabriel (Simon-Anthony Rhoden), Troy’s brother. His wartime injury has left him with a childlike innocence and a strong belief that he has a special connection to heaven. Named after the biblical archangel, Gabriel carries a trumpet, believing that he will one day open heaven’s gates. At Troy’s funeral, Gabriel tries to blow his trumpet, but no sound comes out. Instead, he breaks into a dance. It is a strange and moving moment, suggesting that spiritual freedom may reach beyond words and earthly limitations.
For me, this production of Fences is a beautifully realised reminder that sometimes the greatest tragedy is not what life has denied us, but what we lose while holding on to what might have been.
Fences by August Wilson, directed by Daniel Bailey, plays at the Lyric Hammersmith, London until 31 October 2026. Review by Solange Urdang
