Fat Ham review – Hamlet becomes a booty-shaking barbecue in glittery Pulitzer winner

Swan theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonJames Ijames swaps swords for shots in a riff on Shakespeare’s revenge tragedy that’s as playful as it is poignantIf you’ve ever felt Hamlet needs less gore and more glitterball, then tuck into Fat Ham. James Ijames’s play won a Pulitzer prize in 2022; set at a South

Swan theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
James Ijames swaps swords for shots in a riff on Shakespeare’s revenge tragedy that’s as playful as it is poignant

If you’ve ever felt Hamlet needs less gore and more glitterball, then tuck into Fat Ham. James Ijames’s play won a Pulitzer prize in 2022; set at a Southern backyard barbecue, its sensibility, Black and queer, does more than piggyback on Shakespeare’s tragedy.

This play’s pensive prince is Juicy (a winning Olisa Odele). His father has just died in prison, and the sun-bright party celebrates the hasty marriage of Juicy’s mom and uncle. Strapping but soft, in his Mama’s Boy T-shirt, Juicy’s moping irks his new stepdaddy (“think he some kinda philosopher-poet”).