Scorn is a shortening of Old French escarn, of Germanic origin. The phrase hell hath no fury like a woman scorned is a version of a line in William Congreve's 1697 play The Mourning Bride : âHeav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd, Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'dâ.
Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley. Two hours, 30 minutes. $20-$58. (415) 388-5208. www.marintheatre.org. The passions in August Wilson's musical dialogue reach peaks of operatic intensity in the Marin Theatre Company Fences that opened Tuesday.
Fences is a 1983 play by American playwright August Wilson. Set in the 1950s, it is the sixth in Wilson's ten-part  Pittsburgh Cycle . Like all of the Pittsburgh plays, Fences explores the evolving African-American experience and examines race relations, among other themes. The play won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1987 Tony Award for Best Play.