It's Still August

Saw August Wilson's profoundly moving play, "Fences" at the Pasadena Playhouse tonight starring Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett.

Before dying last year, Wilson wrote a ten-play cycle about the African-American experience in the 20th Century -- each decade is featured in a different play. "Fences" is set in the 50s.

Wilson wrote one of the questions asked in "Fences" is "are the tools we are given sufficient to compete in a world that is different from the one our parent's knew?"

Arthur Miller called "Fences" "the tragedy of the common man."

Fishburne plays an ex-Negro League baseball player named Troy Maxson now working as a garbage collector, living in Pittsburgh's depressed Hill District (where 9 of Wilson's 10 plays are set).

Bassett plays his wife, Rose, forced to deal with Troy's regrets, difficulty with his children and his wandering eye.

James Earl Jones, who played Troy when "Fences" opened on Broadway in 1987 said, "few writers can capture dialect as dialogue in a manner as interesting and accurate as August's."

The entire cast is amazing, but Bassett and Fishburne stand out with performances that capture a range of true human emotions. My heart was in my throat for most of the play.

posting