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About Fences

Fences is a play by August Wilson, running at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in London. First performed on Broadway in 1987, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play that same year. The production has since earned Olivier Award recognition in the UK, and Wilson's text is widely regarded as a cornerstone of twentieth-century American theatre. The play runs at approximately two and a half hours and centres on Troy Maxson, a former Negro League baseball player working as a garbage collector in 1950s Pittsburgh.

Wilson wrote Fences as part of his Pittsburgh Cycle, a ten-play sequence chronicling African American life across each decade of the twentieth century. The dialogue is dense and rhythmic, drawing on blues traditions and oral storytelling. Troy's relationships with his wife Rose, his son Cory, and his friend Bono form the structural backbone of the drama, with generational conflict and deferred ambition running through every scene.

What to expect

The play is set almost entirely in the backyard of the Maxson family home, and the staging reflects that intimacy. Audiences follow Troy across several years as his choices fracture the family around him. The central metaphor of the fence, both literal and symbolic, accumulates meaning through each act. Tickets cover a reserved seat for the full performance, with seating tiers varying by price and sightline. Check the current schedule at the Lyric Hammersmith for available dates and performance times during the limited run.

The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and getting there

The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre has operated on King Street in Hammersmith since 1895, making it one of London's oldest producing theatres. The current auditorium seats around 550 and has hosted major transfers and new productions across drama and musical theatre. The venue is a short walk from Hammersmith Underground station, served by the District, Piccadilly, and Circle lines. For more options across the capital, browse things to do in London to plan the rest of your visit.