Then trip him that his heels may kick at heaven
Hamlet soliloquy / Shakespeare
Fat Ham by James Ijames — who received a Pulitzer for his play — is an unbridled, entertaining, and funny take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, outrageously turned on its ear. Elsinore castle is transported to a lovely house in a suburb of 2022 Atlanta (impressive scenic design by Maruti Evans). This home belongs to an upscale Black family. The basic conversion is this: Young Juicy (Hamlet) is not happy. He and his cousin Tio (Horatio) are putting the final touches on the set-up for a backyard wedding reception. His father Pap (King Hamlet), the heir of the family’s successful BBQ business, had been murdered in prison just a week before. Now, his mother Tedra (Gertrude) and Pap’s brother Uncle Rev (Claudius) have just been married.
Marcel Spears
Chris Herbie Holland and Marcel Spears
It’s a small reception, just the family and a few close friends: Rabby (Polonius) and her two children Larry (Laertes) and Opal (Ophelia). And as with Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Pap’s ghost shows up in the backyard, first to Tio then to Juicy. Pap reveals that — while serving his own sentence for murder — his brother Rev (an actual Reverend) was responsible for him being attacked and murdered in prison. Later, the roving theatrical troupe and their Hamlet-written accusatory play is replaced by a Karaoke performance. Events, as they say, are set in motion.
Adrianna Mitchell, Chris Herbie Holland and Marcel Spears
Now, meet Juicy, a thick, non-athletic, brainy, college-age queer, but no pushover. He is often the smartest person in the room, with the requisite side-eye and intuitive reading of others to prove it. He’s also brave, often speaking truth to power, sometimes to his own detriment. Juicy (sensitive and humorous Marcel Spears) mostly seems comfortable with his queer identity but not always. When the ghost of Juicy’s father Pap (impressive Billy Eugene Jones) appears cloaked in fog and white (costumer Dominique Fawn Hill), he proceeds to bully and belittle him in a homophobic manner before the revelation that led to the wedding of Juicy’s widowed mother Tedra (the sparkling Nikki Crawford) to Rev (also played by Jones). Pap orders Juicy to kill and eat Rev.
Marcel Spears and Billy Eugene Jones
Marcel Spears and Billy Eugene Jones
Per Hamlet’s traditional state of alarm and anxiety, Juicy tries to sort things with Tio (sweet and insightful Chris Herbie Holland), who turns out to be an incredibly wise young man calling attention to the concept of inherited drama and his friend’s paternal lineage of incarceration, saying he does not need to let that define him.
Marcel Spears and Nikki Crawford
Nikki Crawford and Marcel Spears
Juicy next faces his mother Tedra, and Crawford stuns in the tour-de-force role; she fully embraces this middle-aged banjee girl, giving her all the requisite flav-ah while revealing a deeply loving, caring but very pragmatic woman. Brimming with charms, threats, smarts and good looks, Rev comes out to fire up the grill, inflicting the same bullying on Juicy as his dead father just did, and with the same threat of violence.
Billy Eugene Jones and Marcel Spears
Billy Eugene Jones, Nikki Crawford, Benja Kay Thomas,
Marcel Spears, Adrianna Mitchell and Matthew Elijah Webb
The mood lightens a bit with the arrival of Rabby (Benja Kay Thomas) and her two kids Opal (Adrianna Mitchell) and Larry (Matthew Elijiah Webb), a soldier. A karaoke session has Tedra letting loose with a wild lap dance on her new husband, which is quickly followed with an emotional and vocally powerful rendition of the Radiohead song “Creep” let loose by Juicy, whose pointed lyric switch-up upsets Rev and brings the party to a halt.
Marcel Spears
Nikki Crawford, Billy Eugene Jones, Marcel Spears, Matthew Elijah Webb and Adrianna Mitchell
At this point, the similarities to Hamlet cease, despite Juicy’s humorous efforts to keep the original narrative by that “dead old white man” (as Tedra refers to the Bard of Avon). A distinct and timely conclusion is set into motion when Juicy, filled with self-doubt fueled by his family’s homophobic attitudes, and Larry have an in-depth discussion on what it means to be a man. Larry, who fought and killed in battle, comforts his friend, praising him for his self-perceived weakness, and confesses that he too wants to be soft. The discussion turns gently intimate as he then asks to lay his head on his friend’s lap saying, “Can you save me?” This scene between the two has some of the most beautiful, surprising and affecting dialogue in the show, and it is in this moment that the soul of this comedic piece comes to light. The debate about softness vs. hardness, often poignant and insightful, tells us that testosterone-driven violence does not determine what makes a man, and that its perpetuity can give way to a softer and non-violent way of being.
Adrianna Mitchell and Benja Kay Thomas
Marcel Spears and Nikki Crawford
While Hamlet is arguably a play about filial loyalty, Mr. Ijames takes basic plot points and characterizations and transmutes them into a study of masculinity itself — toxic and otherwise. Juicy is referred to as “soft” due to his non-gender conforming ways — he lovingly remembers a Barbie doll his mother gave him as a child that his father took away and burned. (Now. he is sucking down juice-boxes as if to quell the fire burning inside.) The other men in the play, including Tio, are all “hard” — heterosexual or straight-acting, tough, angry and not afraid to go to violence. To write this off as a condemnation of toxic masculinity would be too easy.
Marcel Spears and Adrianna Mitchell
Matthew Elijah Webb and Marcel Spears
Ijames is not trying for a faithful adaptation of Hamlet but uses that story’s spine as a springboard to explore troubling aspects of both family life and societal expectation. As the performance goes on, the play deconstructs itself — becoming conscious that it is a play. At that point, the production joyously frees itself from any theatrical restraints or expectations (hint: it ain’t gonna be a stage full of dead Royals from Denmark, Girl!) just as Juicy is hoping to do in his own life.
Benja Kay Thomas, Adrianna Mitchell, Billy Eugene Jones,
Matthew Elijah Webb, Chris Herbie Holland, Marcel Spears, Nikki Crawford
Matthew Elijah Webb, Chris Herbie Holland and Marcel Spears
photos by Jeff Lorch
poster photo by Justin Bettman
Fat Ham
Geffen Playhouse, 10866 Le Conte Avenue in Westwood
Wed-Fri at 7:30; Sat at 3 & 8; Sun at 2 & 7
ends on April 28, 2024 EXTENDED to May 5, 2024
for tickets, call 310.208.5454 or visit Geffen Playhouse
