Fences By August Wilson: Character Analysis

Fences by August Wilson is a Pulitzer Prize winning play about an African American family that struggles to understand each other and the society they live in. The relationships between characters is a driving force in the plot of play, therefore, casting the appropriate actors is important. For this play I decided to cast Lawrence Fishburne as Troy, Tequan Richmond as Cory, Audra McDonald as Rose, and James Monroe Inglehart as Jim Bono. These actors have the appropriate physical qualities that embody their respective characters. I chose Lawrence Fishburne to play Troy Maxson, because his appearance is similar to how Troy would look. For instance, Fishburne matches the physical qualities explicitly mentioned in the breakdown of scene 1, a “fifty-three years old, large man with thick, heavy hands”. Fishburne has a thick body and is in his fifties as well. Fishburne’s appearance also matches physical characteristics I imagined Troy’s character to have from his experiences and personality. Troy’s character has had a rough life working

Richmond’s appearance matches two facts about Cory’s character, which is that he is a football player in high school. Richmond’s muscular body is similar to a football player and his youthful appearance allows him to play a high school student. It can be inferred that Cory is ambitious, sensitive, and has a good heart. His ambitious character is shown in his rebellion against his father to play football, his sensitivity is shown when he asks his father why he doesn’t love him, and his good heart is shown at the end when he forgives his father and goes to his funeral. Richmond’s posture and big body build shows the qualities of an ambitious person and his sweet, youthful facial features remind me of someone sensitive with a good heart. Although not much is revealed about Cory’s physical appearance a lot can be inferred and I think Richmond has the ideal look to play