{"id":112151,"date":"2025-02-25T11:45:43","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T16:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=112151"},"modified":"2025-02-25T11:45:43","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T16:45:43","slug":"scrutiny-despite-bright-spots-james-ijames-fat-ham-fails-dazzle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/02\/25\/scrutiny-despite-bright-spots-james-ijames-fat-ham-fails-dazzle\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Despite Bright Spots, James Ijames\u2019 Fat Ham Fails To Dazzle"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A
A scene from the Canadian Stage Production of Fat Ham (Photo: Dahlia Katz)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Canadian Stage\/Fat Ham, written by James Ijames, directed by Philip Akin, Berkeley Street Theatre, closes Mar. 16. Tickets here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes it happens that a great divide opens up between me and a cultural and critical darling. Such is my lack of boundless enthusiasm for the Canadian Stage production of James Ijames\u2019 acclaimed 2021 play Fat Ham.<\/p>\n

To really show just how behind the eight ball I am, Fat Ham won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.<\/p>\n

That being said, there is much to recommend in Fat Ham, but while legions of audiences find the play a laugh-out-loud, brilliant tragicomedy, I find it only mildly amusing, despite some clever aspects.<\/p>\n

I actually looked up the Pulitzer citation as announced by administrator Marjorie Miller, which reads, \u201cA funny, poignant play that deftly transposes Hamlet to a family barbecue in the American South to grapple with questions of identity, kinship, responsibility and honesty.\u201d<\/p>\n

I agree in principle, if not in overwhelming admiration.<\/p>\n

The Ijames Innovations<\/h3>\n

While the characters and plot points of Hamlet are evident in Fat Ham, the playwright has given Shakespeare\u2019s magnum opus a mighty shake up.<\/p>\n

For example, the melancholy Dane has been transformed into the more optimistic Juicy (Peter Fernandes<\/strong>), a sweet, lovable, queer, thicc guy coping with his insecurities while trying to define his identity in a toxic world. He\u2019s studying Human Resources at an online university, which his family disparagingly refer to as a \u201claptop university\u201d, corrected by Juicy to \u201cdesktop\u201d.<\/p>\n

The setting is a backyard BBQ to celebrate the hasty marriage of Juicy\u2019s mother Tedra (Raven Dauda<\/strong>) to Juicy\u2019s uncle Rev (David Alan Anderson<\/strong> who also plays Pop, the ghost of Juicy\u2019s father). Pop wants revenge because he believes his brother Rev had him killed. Pop died in prison after being stabbed by a sharpened toothbrush. Pop\u2019s crime? Murder.<\/p>\n

I have to admit that it was fun seeing how Ijames transformed Shakespeare\u2019s well-known characters. The playwright also included Shakespearean soliloquies and asides in the script for good measure.<\/p>\n

Tio (Tony Ofori<\/strong>), Horatio\u2019s clone, is a philosophical druggie. His first soliloquy is wondering if porn is right for him, and later, on a drug-fuelled high, he fantasizes about sexual pleasure with gingerbread men.<\/p>\n

Polonius is now a lady \u2014 the prim and proper, church-going Rabby (Nehassaiu deGannes<\/strong>). Her son Larry (Tawiah M\u2019Carthy<\/strong>) is a stiff, monosyllabic marine suffering from PTSD. Rough and tough suicidal daughter Opal (Virgilia Griffith<\/strong>)has been forced to wear a dress which she hides under a hoodie while defiantly sporting heavy shoes.<\/p>\n

In other words, Ijames has reversed the personalities of brash, confident Laertes and the fragile uber-feminine Ophelia.<\/p>\n

Fat Ham is a play about gender-bending, so it transpires that Larry is trans, with feelings for Juicy, while Opal likes girls.<\/p>\n

And then there is bombastic, bullying, hard nosed Uncle Rev, who keeps telling Juicy that the men in the family are hard and strong and manly, while Juicy is weak. (He wears a T-shirt with the writing Momma\u2019s Boy.)<\/p>\n

Juicy is also much put upon, and his crass, vulgar mother, who really does care for her son, expects him to hold the family together.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t get to grow crazy,\u201d she tells him.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, it doesn\u2019t stop her and Rev from stealing Juicy\u2019s tuition money to renovate the bathroom, which he just accepts.<\/p>\n

From time to time, Ijames has his anti-hero Juicy address the audience directly, mostly to explain what\u2019s going on or to rationalize someone\u2019s bad behaviour. He even quotes Shakespeare as he takes us into his confidence. He also has serious reservations about killing his uncle. Revenge does not come naturally to him.<\/p>\n

While all this appears to be heavy stuff, the meanness and cruelty stay mostly submerged under the superficial nature of the play which is bright and light, despite the odd occasional emotional moment.<\/p>\n

\"Scenes
Scenes from the Canadian Stage Production of Fat Ham (Photo: Dahlia Katz)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Humour<\/h3>\n

There are some genuinely funny happenings in Fat Ham.<\/p>\n

In Shakespeare\u2019s Hamlet, the ruse to catch the conscience of the king is to have the travelling actors perform a play that reenacts the murder of Hamlet\u2019s father. Juicy\u2019s modus operandi is a game of charades that goes all wrong.<\/p>\n

While we don\u2019t get Juicy reciting \u201cTo be or not to be\u201d, we do get another reference from this most famous of soliloquies.<\/p>\n

Chef Rev at the BBQ brags that the key to good ribs is the spice rub, which gives Juicy the perfect opportunity to say, \u201cAh, there\u2019s the rub\u201d.<\/p>\n

There is also a karaoke sing along after dinner. (Tedra got the machine on sale from Amazon.) She performs a rousing, sexy, come-on version of Taylor Dayne\u2019s \u201cTell It To My Heart\u201d executed by Dauda as an eye-popping song and dance routine.<\/p>\n

Juicy is urged to perform a heartfelt version of \u201cCreep\u201d by Radiohead accompanied by pathetic, if humorous, choreography that does charm the house.<\/p>\n

From an acting point of view, you can see that director Akin has bathed this production in love, both in breathing life into the characters and welding the actors into a real family with strong connections between them.<\/p>\n

The Playwright\u2019s Intentions<\/h3>\n

The takeaway from Fat Ham is that the younger generation is breaking the cycle of generational violence. As Tio tells Juicy, don\u2019t let it define you.<\/p>\n

Juicy does finally find his moxie, and while Shakespeare\u2019s Hamlet ended in a blood bath, Juicy makes sure that Fat Ham finishes with a life-affirming wild disco party.<\/p>\n

Nobody has to die, Juicy tells us. The younger set don\u2019t have to follow the rules and conventions that keep them down. As Polonius said to Laertes, \u201cTo thine own self be true\u201d, and this is the new mantra that they adopt.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, my giving away the ending is perfectly okay. Ijames revealed the \u201cBlack Joy\u201d in every interview.<\/p>\n

Problems and Weaknesses<\/h3>\n

So, what am I missing?<\/p>\n

First of all \u2014 language. The cast speaks in a Southern Black vernacular, and at a blistering pace, so I missed some of the dialogue. If they can flash the lyrics during karaoke, they could have had surtitles for the performance. I wanted to hear every word and I\u2019m disappointed that I couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Second. Although many of the conversations and incidents in the play are bizarre or slapstick or off-the-wall, they generate the farcical humour in the play, and I found some of the antics to be almost juvenile.<\/p>\n

Third. Despite the phenomenal cast and their tight ensemble \u2014 and these are some of the best Black actors in the city \u2014 they can\u2019t rise above the jagged, disconnected nature of the script.<\/p>\n

The Production<\/h3>\n

I must, however, praise Brandon Kleiman<\/strong>\u2019s inspired set which created a backyard you could happily live in. Ming Wong<\/strong>, who must be the busiest designer in the city, once again has come up with perfect costumes.<\/p>\n

Andre du Toit<\/strong>\u2019s lighting was able to isolate key moments in the action to diffuse reality, while Laura Warren\u2019s projections highlight the karaoke segments.<\/p>\n

Jaz Fairy J<\/strong>\u2019s choreography is spot on for the characters, and because music is such an important part of the show, Jacob Lin<\/strong>\u2019s sound design is disco quality.<\/p>\n

In Conclusion<\/h3>\n

As a final word, I do realize the importance of Ijames ramrodding over the stereotypical tropes of sorrowful Blacks, and mean streets, and graphic violence to give us a seemingly middle class Black family having a BBQ, albeit they are an eccentric group of people. I also appreciate what the playwright is trying to say about humanity.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the play did not spark for me.<\/p>\n

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Fat Ham won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and I also appreciate what the playwright is trying to say about humanity; unfortunately, it didn’t spark for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":112153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[41660,52,62,63],"tags":[631,21496],"yst_prominent_words":[22923,11439],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/02\/Copy-of-REVIEW-2025-02-25T114146.303.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-taT","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112151"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112151"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112156,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112151\/revisions\/112156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112151"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=112151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}