On Theater:

The “hero” of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “Fences,” onstage at South Coast Repertory, isn’t exactly heroic — he’s a demanding patriarch who’s served 15 years in prison for murder and is trying to keep an overly firm hand on his own teenage son while resisting the urge to cheat on his loving wife of 18 years.

It’s a role with few equals this side of Willy Loman, and Charlie Robinson tears into it with a vengeance that brought an opening-night audience to its feet. Robinson delivers one of the more dynamic performances in SCR’s 45-year history in a role for which he was honored four years ago.

You may remember Robinson for his bailiff Mac on TV’s “Night Court,” but that part barely scratched the surface of this actor’s indomitable power. Here, he commands the stage with a vocal and physical authority that will grip and hold its audience.

“Fences” is the linchpin in Wilson’s 10-play oeuvre, most of them set in Pittsburgh’s ramshackle Hill District in each decade of the 20th century. This one plays out in 1957, with a brief fast-forward to 1965 as we see the consequences of the play’s events.

Robinson’s Troy was a baseball star in the old Negro League, too old to play in the majors by the time Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. Now in his 50s, he collects trash and vies for a coveted driver’s position, but the bitterness lingers, and he takes out his frustrations primarily on his also athletic son (Larry Bates).

Holding down the home front is the underappreciated Rose (Juanita Jennings), whose long and faithful marriage is due for a seismic jolt.

Jennings injects a superb sense of balance into the production and excels in a backyard showdown with her husband.

Peripheral figures in the yard include Bono (Gregg Daniel), Troy’s buddy on the truck who provides some fine comic relief, and Gabe (Baron Kelly), Troy’s war-damaged brother who’s an unsettling presence.

Push comes to shove when Bates’ Cory challenges his overbearing father in one of the show’s most riveting scenes.

Director Seret Scott and fight consultant Ken Merckx have amped up the moments of conflict to a level seldom witnesses on this or any stage.

Brandon J. Dirden functions smoothly as Lyons, Troy’s son by a previous relationship who’s trying to make his way as a jazz musician. Skye Whitebear and Sofya Ogunseitan share a final-scene cameo as a sweet young girl, whose identity shouldn’t be revealed here.

The 1957-era scenes, which comprise most of the play, are rich with the flavor of the period (the “N word” is tossed around freely, drawing gasps on its first utterance). The lone 1965 sequence doesn’t quite measure up, and the playwright’s decision to have the Gabe character so prominent in the finale is, at best, questionable.

By this time, however, “Fences” has encircled the audience — abetted immeasurably by Shaun Motley’s grittily realistic set design and Peter Maradudin’s subtle lighting effects. Jim Ragland’s original music highlights the show’s sound plot.

“Fences” is the sort of play South Coast Repertory excels at, and the production should leave a lasting impression, highlighted by Charlie Robinson’s extraordinary performance in the central role.

If You Go

What: “Fences”

Where: South Coast Repertory, Segerstrom Stage, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 2:30 and 9 p.m. Saturdays, and 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays until Feb. 21.

Cost: $28 to $65

Call: (714) 708-5555

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews appear Fridays.