Ray Fearon is in an expansive move when we chat about playing Troy in August Wilson’s Fences, the revival of the landmark American Pulitzer Prize winning play coming to Oxford Playhouse this week. (Wednesday September 30 – Saturday October 3)
You may have watched the Oscar winning film of the same name starring Denzil Washington and Viola Davis back in 2016, but Headlong has revived the play for the first time in over a decade, and with Ray in the lead it looks set to be dynamite, the tour’s reviews excellent.
You’ll recognise Ray from his incredible repertoire of films, TV and theatre, starring in the likes of Fleabag, His Dark Materials, Coronation Street, Barbie and Harry Potter as well as over 10 years with the RSC where he played Othello and Romeo, and Macbeth at The National. Currently seen in BBC/Netflix drama Champion, Your Fault London on Prime (he’s just filmed the new one in Oxford), Tinsel Town with Kiefer Sutherland on Sky and The Feud on Ch5, Your Move hits Ch4 soon.
“Troy is a humungous part, akin to Shakespeare, and the emotional arc of his story is huge. It really takes it out of you”
And yet despite these mammoth roles, Ray concedes that “Troy is a humungous part, akin to Shakespeare, and the emotional arc of his story is huge. It really takes it out of you.”
Because not only is Troy’s a deep, disturbing and emotional journey, but the part has also made Ray reevaluate his own upbringing and parenting skills, as he navigates the complex Pittsburgh character whose world falls apart everyday on stage.
And yet despite Troy’s obvious flaws and intractability, Ray is fiercely defensive of him, refusing to accede that Troy is bitter, instead seeing him as traumatised and misunderstood. “He’s just a father trying to do his best,” he says.
Ray is fiercely defensive of troy: “He’s just a father trying to do his best”
“We all make mistakes, and Troy pays for his big time. But Troy also faces up to them and that shows a bigness of character. Of course he is flawed but I’d want him in my corner, and he has a strong work ethic. So yes I do like Troy. But to like your character you also have to find the humanity in them, to make sense of them – to ask why they do what they do.
“The world is harsh and Troy wants his children to be able to take care of themselves. Bu then his son Cory is offered a football scholarship in North Carolina, but it’s still before the civil rights movement. I don’t know if Cory would have survived.
‘troy is flawed but I’d want him in my corner’
“And it made me remember when my mum sent me to a new school far away from all my friends, where I didn’t know anyone. I thought she was doing me wrong and blamed her for years, but now I realise she was just trying to do her best.
“So Fences is about the different generations, the relationship between fathers and sons, and makes people want to reconnect. Because Cory has to grow into himself. He can’t run away from his dad’s shadow. He says he doesn’t want to be Troy but he just needs to embrace it. I came to the same conclusion myself when my dad died.
“My father didn’t talk about feelings and anxiety but he provided for us and left us to do the rest. But when I look back he never got in the way of what I wanted to do. There were seven of us, and three step-children, so he never came to school pays or sports days because he was working. He was an engineer and my mum was a nurse, and when she wasn’t a nurse she was at home. So they did care but they were busy providing.
‘when I found acting, my dad didn’t get in my way. He came to a few shows, saw me in Othello and I could see him thinking ‘so this is what he does”
“Even when I found acting, my dad didn’t get in my way. He came to a few shows, saw me in Othello and I could see him thinking ‘so this is what he does’. He didn’t do anything wrong. That was just his life and how he lived it, and this is mine.
“And I get it. When my daughter decided not to go to university I tried to change her mind because I was trying to do my best as a parent. You’d jump out of a window for your children,” Ray adds.
i’t works – we’ve had standing ovations every show. The acting is terrific and the staging is superb’
And yet Fences is still seen as a controversial play? “It ruffles feathers because it’s about no one being perfect and everyone making mistakes. Troy has an affair, still loves his wife and he pays for it.
“But Fences works – we’ve had standing ovations every show. The acting is terrific and the staging is superb. It’s an awesome play and is going to pull a lot of heartstrings. Troy is one of those people where you can’t see his goodness until he’s gone. He’s more good than bad. But it is lengthy so as an actor our job is to keep people’s attention.”
Fences must be good to lure Ray back though after his theatre hiatus? “I started winding theatre work down in 2012 to concentrate on films and TV but when they offered me Troy I knew it was the type of play I wanted to do. So this is my first play back in seven or eight years.
‘I started at Oxford Stage Company which is now Headlong and we staged The Tempest at Oxford Playhouse, so It’s like coming full circle’
“It’s hard to be away from your family but I make it work and the tour ends in Nottingham where I live which is a bonus,” Ray grins.
“But I’m also really excited about coming back to Oxford Playhouse. I started at Oxford Stage Company which is now Headlong and we staged The Tempest at Oxford Playhouse before going on tour to Japan. It was my first job outside of drama college, so it’s funny to be back, especially with Headlong. It’s like coming full circle.”
AUGUST WILSON’S FENCES is at Oxford Playhouse from Wednesday September 30 – Saturday October 3. BOOK HERE
