Fat Ham
James IJames
San Francisco Playhouse
A smoker is full of roasting pig and ribs; a big bowl of potato salad awaits on the picnic table; and a backyard is decked out in Christmas lights, “It’s a boy” blue balloons, and strands of garland. All is set for a backyard wedding party like no one has quite ever seen. That is because the bride’s husband died just a week ago; the groom is the dead man’s brother; and a ghost is about to tell the deceased’s son that his uncle (the groom) had him murdered. Further, the ghostly dad is now demanding that the son avenge his death by his killing the boy’s uncle, his mother’s new husband.
Sound a bit familiar? James IJames’ award for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Fat Ham, is definitely a modern version of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy, Hamlet. Even though all the original, main characters show up in some version among all the grilled meats and freshly baked cornbread, this particular tragedy quickly swings big time into a comedy with a capital “C.”
But in San Francisco Playhouse’s current Fat Ham as so incredibly, insightfully, and often insanely directed by Margo Hall, this comedy is much more than fodder for constant laughs. Among all the constant hilarity is generously sprinkled heart, self-discovery, truth-telling, and reconciliation along with bold statements about queer identity and acceptance of personal differences. SFP’s Fat Ham is a much-needed dose of laughter, tears, and even happy endings in a play (and in a current environment) where tragedy does its best to be in control of the projected outcome.
Our Hamlet is in this case a Black, queer college student named Juicy, a big guy who wears baggy shorts and walks around often sheepishly looking as if a young boy hoping not to get into any trouble today. Called “girly ass puddle of spit” by his dead father’s ghost (Pap) and “soft” by his uncle Rev — now his step-dad — Juicy has not had great luck in father-figures, even more so since his father died in prison after murdering a man over his bad breath. As Juicy at one point tells the audience in one of his several soliloquies, “I was raised in pig guts and bad choices.”
Watching Devin A. Cunningham as this modern-day Hamlet; it seems as if the part of Juicy were written just for him, so intuitively and naturally does he embody a young man often looking as if in deep thought and who even admits, “I can’t help what I am … I ponder.” As the activity of the party of dripping rib sauce and disco dancing spins almost uncontrollably around him, Juicy sits in the eye of the storm calmly and methodically determining how to confirm the ghost’s accusations and then what to do to settle the score with his abusive and maybe murdering uncle.
Speaking both to his family members and to us as audience, Juicy often freely borrows lines from his shadow side of Hamlet, to the point his mom complains, “If you bring up that old white man one more time … Nobody wanna talk about his crazy ass.” But that does not deter Juicy. A side remark of “ah, there’s the rub” from the famous “to be or not to be” speech draws audience chuckles, given the family ribs-and-steak chow-down context. Other dives into Hamlet’s famous soliloquies provide Juicy a more serious chance to share his views of what it is to be a man as well as to set up a Charades game rendition of the original play-within-a-play when Hamlet proves Claudius’s guilt as accused by the ghost of his father.
As the ghost of Pap who enters looking first like a Halloween joke and then emerges in Las Vegas white with silver-studded trim, Ron Chapman is eerie and evil as his piercing eyes bore into Juicy as he commands revenge. The evil side does not disappear when Pap becomes his brother Rev; but now Ron Chapman’s portrayed demeanor is of the surface more smooth, slivery, and seductive in his spoken delivery — that is until he realizes Juicy is not going to ingratiate himself to his new dad and in fact has suspicions pointing directly at him about what happened to Pap. Rev quickly becomes the devil incarnate as he erupts into spasms of anger, determined to seek his own vengeance. Ron Chapman’s Rev is on a non-stop, Shakespearean trek toward his fated demise, but James IJames has a few twists and turns planned for Rev where tragedy becomes for us a gagging treat of hilarity.
Jenn Stephens is Tendra, Juicy’s good-hearted, loving mother who has fallen for Rev’s quick wooing of his brother’s widow. As tender as she can be with Juicy, she can be sexy and sensuous with hips that hump when around Rev. Jean Stephens brings the house down when Tendra’s turn at backyard karaoke becomes wickedly wild and wooly.
The rest of this cast of Black family and friends’ providing their modern-day take on Hamlet are a troupe of fabulously funny and heartwarmingly inspiring characters. Juicy’s best friend and cousin, Tio (aka Horatio in The Bard’s version), is a wonderfully brash and brassy Jordon Covington whose weed-inspired soliloquy on the meaning of life as illustrated by a gingerbread man plummeted with snowballs is a guffaw-and-thought-provoking highlight of the evening. Courtney Gabrielle Williams is another of Juicy’s few friends — a self-confident, supportive Opal (think Ophelia) who prides herself in her butch leanings (she wants to open a shooting range themed buffet restaurant) and is not about to hide long her preferences for women over men.
Opal’s mom and Tendra’s best friend, Rabby, comes as close to stealing the show as anyone. From the moment Rabby arrives in all pink splendor topped with a Sunday, go-to-meeting hat rising at least a foot off her head, Phaedra Tillery-Boughton commands the stage with a Southern drawling voice that hilariously squeaks and squawks and with face-filled looks, sudden head nods, and body jerks that are like watching a live cartoon. All the time, Rabby is giving her righteous opinions while fanning herself with a “Try Jesus” fan. But as much of a caricature as she is, Rabby ultimately wins our hearts and our admiration with her open-arms acceptance of all the surprise announcements suddenly coming at her on all sides.
Rounding out this exceptional cast is Samuel Ademola as the Laertes of this 2025-appropriate Hamlet. Larry is a boyhood friend of Juicy (son of Rabby) returning now as a uniformed Marine on leave. Like Juicy, Larry stands somewhat apart from all the hilarious hubbub of the evening’s craziness. There is something different about him and about the way he looks at Juicy from the minute he arrives. Like in Shakespeare’s tale, there is a definite tension building between Juicy and Larry, and there is an inevitable duel of sorts approaching; but their clash has an ending not quite what the Bard ever could have imagined. Samuel Ademola is stellar in a role that draws both sighs and tears.
What makes the award-wining script truly come to life beyond the cast and direction is a creative team’s collective efforts that are nothing short of spectacular. Nina Ball’s backyard set design is so realistic, one wants to walk backstage and see the rest of the house and its neighborhood. Props designer Amy Benjamin populates the smoker, picnic table, and jumping tambourine ambiance with food ready to eat and homey touches galore. From a ghost risen from the dead to a bride in her skin-tight best to a surprise, dancing star in feathers and glitters, Lee Garber-Patel’s costuming feats are full of fun and fancy, literally topped off by Amber Loudermilk’s wig-making genius.
Every Hamlet, even a Fat Ham Hamlet must have a fighting director, with Dave Maier ensuring safe but for sure realistic, physical confrontations. Kimily Conkle has ensured much of the evening’s humor emits just from the Southern- and Black-infused dialects of all sorts. Maybe the biggest shock is that this Shakespeare-inspired tragedy turned comedy turned romance has a role for a choreographer extraordinare in the likes of Rotimi Agbabiaka.
Juicy reminds us that “the play’s the thing,” and I am here to declare, this play’s a thing that must not be missed. With its current production of James IJames’ Fat Ham, San Francisco Playhouse continues its rich tradition of bringing to its stage recent Broadway hits produced with full New York flair and feel.
Rating: 5 E, MUST-SEE
A Theatre Eddys Best Bet Production
Fat Ham continues through April 19, 2025, in a one-hour, forty-minute (no intermission) by in production by San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post Street, San Francisco. Tickets are available online at www.sfplayhouse.org or by phone at 415-677-9596.
Photo Credits: Jessica Palopoli
