Location and Date: Broadway, March 1987, 46th St. Theatre
Director: Lloyd Richards
Designers: Set: James D. Sandefur, Costume: Candice Donnelly, Lights: Danianne Mizzy
Notable performers: James Earl Jones as Troy and Courtney B. Vance as Cory
Publication: New York Times
Reviewer: Frank Rich
Rich compares the production to Ma Rainey heavily, saying the characters in Ma were “firecrackers exploding in a bottle” and there is a “relative tameness” to Fences. There is a “clunkier dramaturgy” here than in Ma Rainey, which many critics deemed plot less. Rich describes the strength of the characters and of the performers; each offering a formidable opponent to each scene partner, most specifically Courtney B. Vance as Cory versus James Earl Jones as Troy. The directing only falters in awkward scene transitions, but where the first Act plods along, it is a small price to pay for the“gripping” second act.
Location and Date: Chicago, February 2006, Court Theatre
Director: Ron O.J. Parson
Designers: Set:Joe Magan
Publication: Weekly Buzz, Chicago
Reviewer: Syd Slobodnik
Slobodnik describes the play as subtle. Troy’s references to his former life and his current one, place the audience firmly in the decade in which this production occurs. Through the fault of the director, the play misses with casting, characterization and it’s handling of subtext and symbolism. Troy and Rose are too similar in behavior and age, there is no note of their decade age difference. The director provides the audience with no reason to understand Rose’s faith in her husband, as A.C. Smith’s Troy overpowers and oppresses. Cory seems more like a whining son, glossing over the deeper psychological issues Wilson has written. This leads to inappropriate reactions by audience members to emotionally serious situations, actually laughing during the scenes between Troy and Cory. Even the fence is inappropriate. A central figure in the play, the fence is only 2 1/2 feet tall, so insignificant, the audience is left wondering how this barrier lives up to the characters’ perception of it. Location and date: June-August 2006, at The Odyssey
Director: Jeffrey Hayden
Designers: Thomas Brown, set, Luke Moyer, lights, James Bobby, Costume. Original music and sound design: Peter Romano
Notable Performers: Charlie Robinson as Troy
Publication: Curtain Up Los Angeles
Reviewer: Laura Hitchcock
Hayden’s direction is easy but shrewd, he finds the cadence of the play, and beats never seem too long. He has given Rose a character choice not found in the play of forcing everyone to wipe their feet before they enter the house, leaving the outside world behind to enter a world the audience is never allowed to see. The set is described as warm and leafy, and the lighting mellow. I’m not sure that “warm and leafy” is the way Wilson intended this world to feel, but whatever the set may have looked like, the production was delicately crafted and thoughtfully executed. A particularly powerful lighting moment comes when the lights dim to near darkness as Troy delivers his monologue about how he came to leave the house of his brutal father. The effect of putting the audience in the speaker’s memory was symbolic, but unnecessary. The relationship between Bono and Troy is significant here, making Bono’s desertion of Troy the most painful blow Troy receives in this play. Bono is really the only character Troy has not abused or betrayed.
Production Locations
