Fat Ham

I saw Fat Ham at Stage West this weekend, and it was excellent! I only vaguely knew that this play was a black and queer retelling of Shakespeare's Hamlet, and that it had won a Tony. I was quite surprised at how funny, poignant, and delightful it was. Juicy, the main character, does quote Shakespeare a few times, but most of the dialogue is contemporary, and it's set in modern times in the South. Juicy and his cousin Tio (Horatio) prepare for a backyard barbecue to celebrate his mother's wedding; she just got married at the courthouse to Juicy's uncle Rev, only a week after Pap died. Pap was in prison for killing someone at his BBQ restaurant. Then Pap's ghost appears, telling Juicy that he didn't just get killed randomly; Uncle Rev hired someone to shiv him in the neck (much more believable than poison in the ear) so Rev could take the restaurant and his wife. Pap wants Juicy to kill Rev in revenge; Juicy wonders if he can get metaphorical revenge instead, but no, Pap graphically imagines Juicy butchering Rev like a pig, then cooking and eating him at a BBQ. Wow, that went dark, and of course Juicy struggles with his emotions and whether he really wants to do this for Pap, who wasn't a good father.

However, as we meet the rest of Juicy's family and friends, there's joy and fun in the casual party. There's karaoke as well as charades. Sometimes characters go in the house, while others have private conversations in the yard; sometimes characters also break the fourth wall and talk to the audience. Juicy's mom Tedra asks "what are you telling them?" and insists that he tell us the truth that Pap was abusive to both of them, and that Tedra remarrying so fast is because she doesn't know how to be alone, not from heartlessness. Juicy's young friends Opal and Larry (Ophelia and Laertes) also arrive and reveal that Juicy is not the only queer youth in the neighborhood; he's just the only one not closeted. Everyone talks about how soft Juicy is, but it's not always meant in a derogatory way. There are painful revelations and some violent scenes, which made me worry about the tragic ending, but in the end, we do resolve the revenge plot and confront the issues of generational trauma. This was amazing, and I loved it! See it if you can.