Fat Ham Reviews
Los Angeles Times- Highly Recommended
"...Take my word for it: You're going to want seconds. A comedy with serious tragic business on its mind, "Fat Ham" is the most gripping theatrical offering at the Geffen Playhouse since Matthew López's epic gay drama "The Inheritance" and the most boisterously outrageous since Robert O'Hara's "Barbecue.""
Stage and Cinema- Highly Recommended
"...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."
LA Splash- Highly Recommended
"...Skillfully helmed by Siddeeq Heard, FAT HAM is also blessed with a terrific cast who make this group of party-goers come alive. Be prepared to laugh your way through the circuitous paths each of the folks take – and be prepared for some fascinating changes in the narrative as Juicy tried to break the family cycle of trauma, aggression, and secrets. FAT HAM is a must-see production which is entertaining, funny, and sometimes even profound. You’ll love the ending!"
Stage Scene LA- Highly Recommended
"...Risk-taking, rule-breaking, exuberant joie de playwriting won James Ijames the Pulitzer Prize for his contemporary comedic queer African-American take on Hamlet, Fat Ham, now blowing audiences’ minds at the Geffen Playhouse."
Stage Raw- Recommended
"...Notwithstanding the reservations mentioned prior, the ensemble mines Ijames’s dialogue with craft, creating a sense of community and warmth, and an aliveness that in moments may have you thinking that you, too, might have a seat at this table."
Ticket Holders LA- Highly Recommended
"...Fat Ham is the best thing to hit LA stages running this year and maybe for a few years. Without a doubt, Ijames’ meditation on toxic masculinity and how one African American gay man chooses to rise above it and find value in himself despite some overpowering odds is absolutely scintillating. I’ll bet ol’ Will himself would be thrilled."
Larchmont Buzz- Highly Recommended
"...Set in the American South, Fat Ham follows Juicy, a young, queer, Black man, over the course of a backyard barbecue celebrating the recent wedding of his mother, Tedra, to his uncle, the dangerously deceptive Rev. When Juicy is visited by the ghost of his recently deceased father, he is left with a question of Shakespearian proportions–to kill his uncle or not to kill his uncle. Directed by Sideeq Heard, The West Coast premiere of Fat Ham is full of spectacle and celebration, running 100 minutes without intermission."
Broadway World- Highly Recommended
"...FAT HAM is a modern, reimagining of Shakespeare’s HAMLET set on the porch of a Black family’s cookout in North Carolina. Ijames has eliminated several characters, streamlined the plot to run 100 minutes and filtered the proceedings through the gaze of a queer hero whose agenda is to figure stuff out and bump off his uncle."