As I watched this long-awaited production of August Wilson’s Fences from the Bowie Community Theatre (it was set to open in March 2020 before life got so much more… interesting), I couldn’t help recalling lines from Philip Larkin’s “This Be the Verse”:
They f*ck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
You got to take the crooked with the straights, roll with the punches, and prepare to tackle death when it comes. The August Wilson classic Fences slides into the second show slot of the 25th Anniversary season at Everyman Theatre. Directed by Clinton Turner Davis, the play articulates the age-long struggle of man versus death and throws in the American classic kitchen sink drama of love, loss, and family in the process.