Fences hits the stage!

I must admit, watching Fences was an entirely different experience than reading it. Many of the aspects that frustrated and bothered me from the script were the things that intrigued and absorbed me while I was watching it. For example, just the dialogue of the script was, to me, most of the time cliche, and stereotypical. It annoyed me, and even offended me a little bit. However, seeing it performed, I thought it was authentic, and really set the scene. I think the reason behind this was that Troy seemed uneducated and angry in the script, while on stage, yes he was both those things, but he had much more depth to him, and that allowed the stereotype to melt away.

Rose was stronger on stage than reading her as well. I thought this was a story of an overbearing husband, and a passive wife, and I did not really think it was in Rose's character to throw Troy out the way she did. However, in the play, she was strong, and smart. Rather than a pushover, she was simply in love and invested in her husband, which did not come across in the written version.

The technicalities of the play alone were wonderful. The stage was very realistic, and elaborate, The lighting was very advanced. They had the lights on a timer so as to have the sun slowly setting behind them, which gave an accurate feeling of the passage of time, and really involved you in their lives and story. From the scenes that occurred where one person was outside, and another was inside, it was strategically placed so you could see the actor's expression through the window, and I thought that was just phenomenal staging. It was moving, and realistic. It was the perfect way to open up the usage of the stage. I thought just having them out on the lawn was getting a bit tired, and then they added this, which added literal and emotional depth to their surroundings, and really made you feel the isolation of each of the characters. Just like the fence, the house divided them as well.

Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the Seattle Rep's rendition, and I thought it really highlighted the good aspects of Wilson's writing, and illuminated characteristics and depth that I did not really see the potential for in the original script.