ADC Theatre
Tue 22 - Sat 26 October
Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club

August Wilson's Fences

August Wilson

Content warning [May contain spoilers]

Please note that, whilst the age rating for this show is 8+, discretion is advised when intending to bring younger audience members. We would strongly advise reading the Content Warnings for this production. For further details, please contact the Box Office.

"I planted myself inside you and waited to bloom. And it didn't take me no eighteen years to find out the soil was hard and rocky and it wasn't never gonna bloom."

Troy, the patriarch of the Maxon family, is hardened, flawed and unsentimental, and is yet the perfect depiction of picking survival over dreams. For Troy, gone are the days of youth when he was a former star of the baseball league. His manoeuvring of the tense racialised backdrop of mid-20th century Pennsylvania results in failed relationships with both his wife Rose and his son Cory who now dreams of becoming a baseball star like his father once was: an ambition Troy hopes to kill in the name of pragmatism.

Fences has often been lauded by critics as the gem in August Wilson's 'The American Century Cycle'.

This production is suitable for ages 8 and over.

This amateur production of “August Wilson's Fences” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk

Times

Fri 25 October at 7:45pm
Sat 26 October at 2:30pm
Sat 26 October at 7:45pm

Venue

ADC Theatre

Tickets

TUE £10-£14, WED-THU £11.50–£15, FRI–SAT £13.50–£17

abuse (physical, mental, verbal, sexual);death and/or dying; mental illness; discrimination and/or biogotry (racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia)

The ADC Theatre is Britain's oldest University playhouse, today administered and maintained by the University of Cambridge. Plays have been presented on the site since 1855, when the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club (CUADC) was founded, and the society met and performed in the back room of the Hoop Inn, which stood almost exactly where the ADC Theatre stands today.  Today, the ADC Theatre is the centre of University drama in Cambridge, run almost entirely by students with no Faculty involvement. 

Access

When you arrive at the ADC Theatre, there are power assisted doors to the Box Office. In the foyer there is a lift which leads up to the bar and auditorium. The accessible toilet is located on the ground floor across the foyer. Further information can be found here.

If you are booking a wheelchair seat in the ADC auditorium for the first time, please call the Box Office on 01223 300085 or email access@adctheatre.com. We will then alter the permissions of your ADC account so that you can access the wheelchair seats on our website when you book in the future. 

Complimentary tickets are available for full-time carers.

The ADC Theatre and Corpus Playroom is fitted with an infra-red audio system designed to help deaf and hard of hearing patrons. If you are using the system for the first time, please arrive early and seek advice from our Front of House team.

Assistance dogs are welcome in both of our venues. Please call the Box Office or email the above address when booking to ensure you are seated appropriately.

The Park Street car park, which is typically used by customers of the ADC Theatre, is closed until August 2024. We recommend that you park in the Grand Arcade car park (10 minute walk) or the Castle Hill car park (15 minute walk). Parking in City Council car parks is free after 6pm. You can find out more information here.

Address

ADC Theatre
Park Street
Cambridge
CB5 8AS
Get directions

From the producers

Show is live!

Show photography by Chris Lorde

Show is live!

Show photography by Chris Lorde

Show is live!

"Wilson’s masterful writing offers a profound, nuanced exploration of the African American experience, transcending the Atlantic and resonating deeply with many of our own familial and personal experiences.  The play challenges us to reflect on the fences we construct in our own lives – those that provide shelter and those that isolate."

Angel Ezeadum, Assistant Director
Show is live!

Show photography by Chris Lorde

Show is live!

Rehearsal Photography by Chris Lorde

Show is live!

"In Fences, August Wilson presents as vivid and visceral a depiction of period and setting as has ever been put
to stage. It is our enormous pleasure to bring this timeless story to audiences once again and, for the first time, to
break through the fourth wall of Troy and Rose's home, allowing the audience even further into their lives."

Tom Barry, Producer
Show is live!

Rehearsal Photography by Chris Lorde

Show is live!

“Often when discussing productions, directors use some derivative of the phrase “breathing life”. Yet the cast
and I have found ourselves on the inverse - how to contend with the raw and searing palpability in Wilson’s
work that already arrives with its own ferocious beating heart. What makes Fences a glorious show is its
familiar yet daring homage to black domesticity. It is an honour to tell this story at a time when Cambridge
perhaps needs to hear it most”.

Ivan Alexei Ampiah, Director

Tickets

25 October 7:45pm 7:45pm Book now
26 October 2:30pm 2:30pm Book now
26 October 7:45pm 7:45pm Book now