It's Not A Musical, But 'Fences' Sings at WBTT

Arts & Culture

Pictured: Patric Robinson, Brian L. Boyd, Ariel Blue and Donovan Whitney onstage in WBTT's production of Fences. Photo by Sorcha Augustine.

There is something wonderfully intimate about Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe’s theater. Maybe it’s the entrance that deposits the audience nearly onstage as they walk in, delivering them right into the world of the play. Maybe it’s the absence of built separation between stage and seating granting some sort of immediacy to the art. Whatever the cause, it’s a felt experience perfect for WBTT’s production of August Wilson’s Fences, where this closeness effectively transforms the audience into a gaggle of nosy neighbors, all watching the Maxson family drama unfold in front of them, seeing things they probably shouldn’t see, eavesdropping on their most vulnerable moments.

It's a riveting watch, and a raw portrait that asks no forgiveness.

Set in 1950s Pittsburgh, the narrative plays out entirely in the Maxson family backyard, where we first meet Troy, patriarch and protagonist, as he returns home from a day riding the garbage truck. It’s a job that supports a wife and child well enough but, as we soon learn, is a poor substitute for the baseball career he knows he could have had, if not for being a black man in a white man’s America. This wound, or at least what it represents, will drive much of the character’s conflict with those around him. But on a Friday evening with bottle in hand and good friend Bono at his side, we see the other side of the man—good-humored and full of life, a bawdy troubadour who treats the world as his stage and laughs louder than the rest.

In this lead role, Patric Robinson finds plenty to sink his teeth into. Troy Maxson is arguably one of the most complex characters you’ll find on any stage. He embodies contradiction and to navigate his moral character is to wander an Escherian labyrinth where every end is another beginning. But Wilson wants you to wander and, in doing so, investigate the dividing lines between understanding and condoning, between explaining and justifying, and the place where forgiveness ends and family begins. The performance is a balancing act on a high-wire, and Robinson fills the theater with Troy’s presence like something larger-than-life while he’s up there. There’s the occasional wobble, moments when I wished to see more of the character’s gravitas shine through his brashness, but these are quibbles over a fine performance.

Coming and going through a creatively imagined set that affords the audience a certain amount of X-ray vision into the home itself, the cast impresses at nearly every turn. Donovan Whitney plays Jazz cat Lyons with the perfect blend of swagger and vulnerability, Brian L. Boyd brings a quiet sadness to Bono, and Zion Thompson shoulders his demanding role with aplomb. But it’s Ariel Blue who becomes the bruised and beating heart of the play with a performance so real you can hear the audiences’ own hearts breaking.

Directed by Jim Weaver and currently onstage at WBTT, Fences runs through February 23.

Pictured: Patric Robinson, Brian L. Boyd, Ariel Blue and Donovan Whitney onstage in WBTT's production of Fences. Photo by Sorcha Augustine.

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