The Midwest premiere of James Ijames’ 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning “Fat Ham” is a feather in the cap for both Definition Theatre and Goodman Theatre, which are co-producing the 100-minute one-act in the Goodman’s Owen Theatre.
Ijames’ savvy play honors Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” in obvious and offbeat ways, then totally transforms it into a serio-comic commentary on contemporary Black life, especially gender roles, generational differences and toxic masculinity. It’s funny enough to be a first-rate sitcom but so smart that it escapes the boundaries of that genre. And director Tyrone Phillips, who is Definition’s artistic director, and his talented ensemble give it the well-thought-out production it deserves.
Ijames’ stand-in for the moody Danish prince is twentyish Juicy (Trumane Alston), a queer Black man with a poor body image who has been attending an online college with the hopes of getting a degree and job in human resources. We first see him blowing up balloons in the backyard of the family ranch house in North Carolina — impeccable set design by Arnel Sancianco — and glean from his conversation with his best friend and cousin Tio (Victor Musoni), as in Horatio, that he’s depressed about the marriage of his mother, Tedra (the terrific Angi White), to his uncle Rev (Ronald L. Conner) only a week after the death of his father Pap (also Conner).
But here’s where the plot begins to diverge from “Hamlet.” When the ghost of Pap appears to Juicy — in a very funny way — demanding revenge, it becomes clear that there was no love lost between father and son. Pap, pig farmer and pit master, was killed in prison, where he was serving time for brutally murdering a man because his breath stank. He always thought his son was too soft and criticized him for everything. Besides being bullied by Pap and having a certain sense of filial duty, the only reason Juicy considers killing Rev is learning that Rev ordered the hit on Pap, or so Pap says.
The guests arriving for the barbecue are Ijames’ takes on Laertes, Ophelia and Polonius. Larry (Sheldon Brown) is a Marine trying to recover from PTSD who has a secret he reveals to Juicy. Opal (Ireon Roach), one of Juicy’s only friends, is a lesbian who worries about him and chafes at being forced to wear a dress by her and Larry’s mother, Rabby (E. Faye Butler, way over the top), a loud church lady who loves to drink and gripe as much as to praise the Lord.
Ijames subverts Shakespeare in a couple of other interesting ways. While he resorts to common dramatic devices ranging from soliloquies to asides to the audience, he often re-purposes them to some extent. Rather than having a play-within-the-play to expose Rev’s guilt, Juicy suggests a game of charades for the backyard barbecue. Some of the soliloquies and asides come straight from “Hamlet”; others are made up. Characters’ inner thoughts and feelings emerge in a karaoke interlude with Tedra performing Crystal Waters’ “100% Pure Love” and Juicy taking on “Creep” by Radiohead. After everyone discusses how they all die in “Hamlet,” the surprise finale featuring Larry is a stunner and possibly a sly reference back to Elizabethan drama.
The other device is arguably sneakier. In Shakespeare’s plays, the low comedy and high-born characters are for the most part different people. In “Fat Ham,” the puerile and the profound co-exist in individuals. The result is that someone like Tio can interrupt a silly rant to say something amazingly insightful or Tedra can stop obsessing over trivia for a minute to show how much she really cares about Juicy. This element of the unexpected enhances both the humor and the depth of the piece.
The only thing I wish is that more was done to draw the audience in, perhaps with the asides. Alston’s performance is very low-key and could be just a bit droller and more ironic. At the other end of the spectrum, Butler could tone Rabby down just a notch.
Props to Jos N. Banks’ costume design, Jason Lynch’s lighting design and Willow James sound design for getting the look and feel of “Fat Ham” just right. Winter weather notwithstanding, this is a show worth seeing. Despite some dark elements, it should warm your heart and increase your faith in the younger generation.
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