Fences at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre

About Fences

August Wilson's Fences is one of the great works of twentieth-century drama, a richly layered portrait of a man wrestling with the weight of his own past. Set in the backyard of a Pittsburgh home during the 1950s, the play follows Troy Maxson, a former Negro League baseball player who now earns his living collecting rubbish for the city. His talent was never rewarded the way it deserved to be, and that unresolved bitterness shapes everything he does and everyone he loves.

Wilson wrote the play as part of his celebrated Pittsburgh Cycle, a sequence of ten dramas tracing African American experience across every decade of the twentieth century. The language is alive with the rhythms of blues music and oral tradition, and the dialogue carries the particular weight of people who have learned to say difficult things through stories, jokes and argument. What begins as a portrait of an ordinary family gradually reveals itself as a profound meditation on race, masculinity and the promises America makes and breaks.

What the Play Is About

Troy Maxson is a man who builds fences, literally and figuratively. The fence he is constructing around the family garden becomes a running symbol throughout the play, meaning different things to different characters as the drama unfolds. His wife Rose sees it as a way of keeping the family close. Troy uses it to keep the world at a distance. His son Cory, who wants to pursue his own sporting ambitions, experiences it as a barrier between himself and everything he might become.

The relationships at the heart of Fences are drawn with extraordinary precision. Troy and his old friend Bono share a camaraderie built over years of shared labour and honest conversation. Troy and Cory circle each other with a mix of pride, rivalry and unexpressed love. And Troy and Rose have a marriage that is tested to its limits by choices Troy makes that he cannot undo. The play spans several years, and the way time works on these characters, deepening some wounds and closing others, is one of Wilson's greatest achievements.

A Play of Enduring Importance

When Fences premiered on Broadway in 1987, it won both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. It has since been recognised across the world as a cornerstone of American theatre, and productions in the UK have earned Olivier Award recognition. The play's themes, centred on the gap between aspiration and opportunity, on what fathers pass to sons, on what a society owes the people it has shut out, feel as urgent today as they did when Wilson first put them on the stage.

The Lyric Hammersmith is an ideal home for this production. The theatre has a long tradition of presenting work that combines artistic ambition with genuine popular appeal, and its intimate atmosphere suits the close domestic world of the Maxson family backyard perfectly.

Visiting the Lyric Hammersmith

The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre sits on King Street in the heart of Hammersmith, west London, and has been one of the city's most important producing theatres since it first opened in 1895. The venue is straightforward to reach by public transport, with Hammersmith Underground station served by the District, Piccadilly and Circle lines just a short walk away. The theatre offers a welcoming bar and café area, and the auditorium provides good sightlines from across its seating tiers.

Tickets for Fences start from £12.50, making this production accessible to a wide range of audiences. Seating options vary by location and price point, so it is worth checking what is available for your preferred date. The run is limited, so early booking is advisable.

Book Tickets for Fences

To see availability and secure your seats, choose a performance date in the booking calendar on this page and pick from the current range of ticket options. Whether you are coming to Fences for the first time or returning to a play you already love, this Lyric Hammersmith production promises an evening of theatre that will stay with you long after the final scene.