‘Fat Ham’ to take a funny, contemporary and unconventional look at Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’

Both Prince Hamlet and Juicy, the protagonist of James Ijames’ “Fat Ham,” have an existential choice to make. For Shakespeare’s tortured Dane, it’s a question of “to be or not to be?” For the queer Black son in Ijames’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play it’s a choice between violent revenge or love and joy — and something more.

“A young man in his early 20s is in the crucible in this family,” said Sola Fadiran, who plays Juicy in the Old Globe’s production of “Fat Ham,” adding that his character explores “what is it to be a son, to be that father’s son, to be different.”

Set at a Black family’s barbecue wedding reception, “Fat Ham” is a contemporary, comic adaptation of Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy, though it is neither note-for-note nor line-for-line.

“Some of the structure and bones of ‘Hamlet’ exist in the play,” said Fadiran, “but it’s more used as a conduit by which (playwright) James is trying to express the dynamic of a Black family in the South in America.”

Nevertheless, see if some of this sounds familiar: While setting up a backyard family cookout, Juicy is visited by the ghost of his father Pap (Lance Coadie Williams), who wants him to avenge what he says was his murder by Juicy’s uncle Rev (also played by Williams), who is now married to Juicy’s mother, Tedra (Felicia Boswell). Also on the scene are Juicy’s cousin Tio (Xavier Pacheco), family friend Rabby (Yvette Cason), her daughter Opal (played by the actor named m) and her son Larry, a U.S. Marine (Tian Richards).

Very un-“Hamlet,” on the other hand: sight gags and karaoke, plus allusions to pot smoking and porn.

All in 95 minutes as opposed to your average “Hamlet” production’s three hours or so.

Sola Fadiran plays Juicy in the Old Globe production of “Fat Ham.”

(Courtesy of Rich Soublet II)

“Fat Ham” debuted Off Broadway two years ago at The Public Theater in New York, opened on Broadway a year later and was nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Play. It made its West Coast premiere at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles earlier this spring, where it was directed by Sideeq Heard, associate director for both the Off Broadway and Broadway productions.

Heard, who’s also an actor and rapper, is directing an all-new cast in the Old Globe’s production of “Fat Ham.”

“It’s great to bring this show down here to the San Diego audience,” said Heard. “What everyone will discover on this ride is that it is Shakespeare. To experience a play like ‘Hamlet’ through the lens of the Black experience continues to uplift how universal the stories are that Shakespeare told.

“Ijames is so clever in how he’s interwoven the plot and the things that we love about the original ‘Hamlet.’ He gives us these samples and doses of his text that audiences eat up, from ‘Ay, there’s the rub’ to ‘I have heard that guilty creatures …’ — all classic Shakespeare references.”

That being said, Fadiran emphasized that “You don’t need to have ever heard anything about ‘Hamlet’ in your life” to get into “Fat Ham.” To Fadiran, the popularity of this show is its universality.

“Family is family,” he said. “People love to see themselves reflected. In the most bizarre and hilarious ways, this show does that.”

Heard agrees that the theme of family is central to this play, even with all its sometimes uproarious hilarity.

“I don’t think in the American theater we can ever get enough stories about how families learn to coexist and heal together, get over trauma together,” he said. “That’s what keeps this play afloat.”

“Fat Ham,” Heard said, also addresses the quest for identity.

“It’s about liberation,” Heard said. “It resonates for me as a queer Black man. It helped me find my own liberation. That’s the gift this play gives to everybody who watches it. There’s a spectrum of characters people seem to be able to relate to over and over again. The most exciting part is always watching the audience members find moments of connection.”

At times “Fat Ham” breaks the fourth wall, like so many of the works of The Bard’s do.

“The audience is an important (presence) in the world of his plays,” Fadiran said. “The same is true for ‘Fat Ham.’ We invite them into the experience of the family barbecue in a way that is supposed to make them feel included.”

But again, much unlike Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” “Fat Ham” is ultimately a “celebration,” said Fadiran. “I don’t think there are enough shows that excavate the generational trauma of Black families in America with this kind of dexterity of love and joy and humor.”

‘Fat Ham’

When: Previews, Saturday through May 29. Opens May 30 and runs through June 23. 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays

Where: Old Globe Theatre, 1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park, San Diego

Tickets: $35 and up

Phone: (619) 234-5623

Online: theoldglobe.org

Coddon is a freelance writer.