Fences

I have not been able to put my finger on exactly why, but Fences did not work for me. The dialogue is very good, which came across much more in seeing the play than in reading it. The characters are well developed through the dialogue, there is transformation and growth in the characters, they complement each other well. But I did not feel connected to the characters, I was not moved by them, I did not empathize with them, nor was I invested in their trials and tribulations.

Reading Fences, I think that Wilson did an impeccable job of describing, in words, characters that are recognizable as full-fledged, filled out human beings. It is easy for characters to come across as flat and un-dynamic when reading them on a page, but Wilson succeeded in telling his readers who his characters are.

Onstage I was, if possible, less convinced of the characters than when reading the play. Troy was too angry, Cory too moody and sullen, and Rose, who I was very impressed by when reading Fences and who I had thought was the strongest character, came across as a very weak character onstage. This very well may have been because of the particular production I saw. But even so, I was not convinced. What this taught me was that there is so much more that will be added to a play than what is seen on the page. Like I mentioned in the blog about The Last of Our Boys, one production of a play will differ dramatically from all other productions of the same play. Also, a production that works for one person may not work for another.

What I learned from reading and seeing Fences is that writing plays is hard. Not everyone will ever be satisfied with your production; even if five hundred people think it is brilliant, one hundred will think it sucked, and another hundred will think it is lacking substance, or coherence, or meaning. So I think the take-home message here is make yourself happy—do what you want, use your artistic license, and don’t let other people’s ideas make you think you are wrong (unless the vast majority tell you it is awful, then it probably is).