Knowing August Wilson

BY STEPHEN MCKINLEY HENDERSON

I first met August Wilson in 1989. I was in a play in a venue near Gettysburg. While driving back through Pittsburgh I learned that he was speaking in a neighbourhood called Homewood. I had been excited about his work for a while and so on a whim I decided to take a detour to go and listen. That seemingly small decision changed the course of my professional life.

There was something so unique and genuine and true about what Wilson said that day. It was clear he saw the beauty in his people, and he wanted to make sure the rest of the world saw what he saw. I instantly felt that I was on a journey to work with this man, and not long after I did. I was blessed to work with him and befriend him from 1996 until his death in 2005.

I have admired, loved and been inspired by August Wilson. His writing is both poetic and gritty, with a rhythm and flow which I call the ‘Blues lambic’. Fences epitomises this poetic musicality. Wilson wrote Fences in 1983, it being the sixth entry in his ten-play “Pittsburgh cycle” (Also called the “Century Cycle” or “American Century Cycle”). These plays powerfully trace the Black American experience decade by decade across the 20th century, mostly set in Pittsburgh’s Hill district, but reflecting experiences common to all Black Americans – indeed experiences common to all colonised peoples across the world.”

Set in 1950s Pittsburgh, the play centres on Troy Maxson, a former Negro League baseball player working now as a garbage collector. From the outset we tangibly feel how this shapes Maxson – who he is and how he parents his children. Wilson deliberately built Maxson as a tragic figure, in the same classic tradition as King Lear or Willy Loman. The story centres on his complicated relationships with his wife Rose, his sons Lyons and Cory, and tragic generational patterns of masculinity and parenting.

The play’s first Broadway production opened in 1987 and won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for best Play, along with acting / directing Tonys for director Lloyd Richards, James Earl Jones and Mary Alice. The play was revived in 2010 in a Broadway Production starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, going on to win another Tony for best revival and leading to director Washington’s film adaption from a screenplay August wrote before his passing in 2005. The film was released in 2016, receiving four Oscar nominations including best supporting actress, which was awarded to Viola Davis.

Fences arguably remains the most commercially successful play of Wilson’s cycle. However, it is the enduring global appeal of this work that really sets this piece apart – with major productions taking place well beyond Broadway – in the UK, South Africa, Canada, Australia and beyond. Fences, and all of Wilson’s work. Transcends the locality and specificity of time and place, and speaks directly to us as humans. From all I’ve read of the extraordinary director, Daniel Bailey, and the designers and composer, I feel certain Wilson’s masterpiece is in the most capable hands.

“It might seem odd to say of a play that was awarded a Tony, a Drama Desk Award and an actual Pulitzer Prize: but it feels like August Wilson’s Fences might be under-appreciated." ★★★★★

“This is an outstanding production of an outstanding play. It doesn’t come around very often. This is a must see for anyone with an interest in the greatest of American theatre.” ★★★★★

"There’s no reimagining, no stunt casting and no video backdrops in Daniel Bailey’s masterful staging of August Wilson’s modern tragedy, one of the most important plays of the 20th century." ★★★★★

"Daniel Bailey’s dynamic production fizzes with jazz and moments of possibility amid taut scenes of thwarted ambition and harsh realities in 1950s America" ★★★★

"No big concepts, just fizzing drama. August Wilson’s play, revived by Headlong at Leeds Playhouse, has crackling dialogue and a slow-building intensity" ★★★★