American Stage’s ‘Fat Ham’ considers the human condition

To be or not to be … that is the question. So broods the young Prince of Denmark in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, perhaps the most famous of all stage dramas.

It is, of course, the universal question – who am I, what am I here for and do I matter? – which has made Hamlet an incorruptible template for centuries of adaptations.

The latest is James Ijames’ Fat Ham, opening Friday at American Stage. The show – poignant, funny and tragic – was nominated for five Tony Awards, and was awarded the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Set at a backyard barbecue in a small southern town, Fat Ham introduces Juicy, a bright, gay college student searching for his identity amongst the rubble of a ruptured family dynamic.

The ghost of Juicy’s violent and not-much-missed father appears, insisting the young man avenge his murder, which was instigated by Pap’s own brother, Rev.

And Rev happens to be his mother’s new husband. He’s violent, too.

Raved the New York Times review: “That Fat Ham achieves its happy, even joyful, ending honestly, without denying the weight of forces that make Hamlet feel just as honest, is a sign of how capacious and original the writing is, growing the skin of its own necessity instead of merely burrowing into Shakespeare’s.”

Raymond O. Caldwell is directing American Stage’s “Fat Ham.”

Director Raymond O. Caldwell, a longtime faculty member and resident director in Howard University’s Department of Theatre Arts, believes Hamlet’s quest for the meaning of (his) life transcends time and space.

“Think about what has made Shakespeare last through time, why we still stage those plays,” Caldwell said. “There’s something about the human condition. James Ijames has really created a world that also is in tandem a celebration of Black queer culture. The essential experience of what it is to figure yourself out.

“And isn’t that what Hamlet is doing? And isn’t that a universal experience?”

Caldwell, who has directed theater all over the world, doesn’t limit such insights to Elizabethan England’s Bard of Avon. “You have Shakespeare, but also there were Greek writers writing this way, Indian writers writing this way, African writers writing this way … so I think about the human condition. That’s what I think is really being celebrated here. Particularly the discovery of one’s self.”

Caldwell postulates that the Fat Ham story – in an alternate universe – could well have been told without the bones of Shakespeare’s template.

“I think what the playwright is really capturing is that core, essential process of what it is to discover your own sexuality,” he said, “and your own sexuality in a place that often has not created space for that. But that, again, is a universal experience: What is it to discover yourself, and figure out who YOU are.”

More to the point: “There are essential components of Hamlet’s story that are interwoven into Juicy’s story, but you should definitely not come expecting to see Hamlet with Black People [laughing].

“It is a hilarious exploration of Black culture, as well, a real celebration of Black culture and Black people.”

Deimoni Brewington, in the pivotal role of Juicy, was a student of Caldwell’s at Howard. The cast also includes Jefferson A. Russell as both Rev and Pap, Janelle Richardson as Tedra, Julen Barini-Brown as Tio, Jai Shanai as Opal, Mykail Cooley as Larry and Andresia Moseley as Rabby.

“This cast,” said Caldwell, “is really, really quite brilliant. I wanted to find a subset of people who were not only mind-blowingly talented, but really funny and really kind. Through the rehearsal process, we have just been having a blast in the room. You get the right people together, and it’s just a damn good time. It’s been laugh after laugh after laugh.

“And interwoven through all of those laughs are some really poignant, thoughtful idea about society and self. I’m really excited by this cast.”

Fat Ham has a preview performance tonight, and runs Wednesdays-Sundays through June 22. Find all info and tickets at this link.