Wilson - one of the greatest American playwrights - and fine adaptation of Fences

Watching the Denzel Washington-directed Fences made me wonder why I've seen and read so little by the great American playwright August Wilson, who won a Pulitzer Prize, deservedly, for this excellent play - he was without doubt on a par with the other great American playwrights of the 20th century - O'Neil, Williams, Miller - as this play, and this terrific film adaptation (Wilson wrote the screenplay - has to have been a long time ago) evidences. In some ways it's a typical motif of American (maybe world) drama: a cruel and domineering patriarch struggles with his son, who wants to break free and find independence and a life of his own; in the process the father's flaws are revealed and lead to his tragic un-doing, and in the process we come to feel by "fear and pity" as we understand the world of this damaged and damaging man. What sets Fences and other Wilson plays apart, however, is the cultural setting; a decade by decade examination of life in the black urban communities of America, specifically in Homestead/Pittsburgh. Despite the breadth of its material, this is really a two-person play, and Washington as Tyler and Viola Davis as his wife give extraordinary performances throughout. Washington's direction is surprisingly deft, as he keeps the word-dense story moving along quickly and opens the scene up so that we feel we're not confined to one household but we're looking at life in an entire community. If there's a flaw in the play, it would have to be the last act, with the characters gathered for Tyler's funeral; with the lead character gone, the energy is drained from the play - it's like having an Act VI to King Lear. And - a quibble - why did they screw up the baseball references? Koufax definitely was not leading the league in strikeouts in 1955.