Review: The Outrageously Hilarious FAT HAM Opens at The Black Rep

The Black Rep’s production of James Ijames’ Fat Ham is among the most anticipated plays this season in St. Louis Theater. The comedic take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, directed by Geovonday Jones, made its St. Louis premiere on Friday at the Edison Theatre and it did not disappoint.

Just days before opening at The Public Theatre in 2022, Fat Ham was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Pulitzer committee recognized Fat Ham for being “a funny, poignant play that deftly transposes Hamlet to a family barbecue in the American South.”

The extended run at The Public opened to critical acclaim on May 12, 2022, and ran through July 31 before transferring to Broadway in 2023 for a limited run. The Broadway run was also extended due to box office demand.

Fat Ham was nominated for five Tony awards, including Best Play and Best Direction of a Play. Playwright James Ijames won the Outer Critic’s Circle’s John Gassner Award that celebrates an Outstanding New American Play. Fat Ham was also honored with Dorian Awards for Outstanding Broadway Play and as an Outstanding LBGTQ Broadway Production. It was also awarded the Lamda Literary Award for Drama.

At the Black Rep Geovonday Jones has constructed a perfectly paced comedic family drama. His direction of the Hamlet inspired story, set against a backyard barbecue, is peppered with spirited performances and sauced with plenty of laughs.

Fat Ham opens with Juicy (Marshall W. Mabry IV) and his cousin Tio (Olajuwon Davis) decorating the backyard for the cookout celebrating the wedding of his mother Tedra (Angela Wildflower) to his Uncle Rev. (Enoch King). Juicy is visited by a Shakespearean ghost, his dead father (also played by King), demanding he avenge his death at the hands of his brother-in-law Rev.

Fat Ham is filled with contemporary themes, queer coming out stories, toxic masculinity, and family trauma. Ijames script balances serious subject matter with exaggerated farce.

Jones has assembled a group of richly expressive actors with precise timing and comedic physicality. Raevyn Ferguson, Margery A. Handy, and Brian McKinley join Mabry, Davis, Wildflower, and King as Opal, Rabby, and Larry, the extended family members invited to the wedding reception cookout.

The acting ensemble delivers cohesive storytelling through contrasting but equally effective individual performances. Mabry is fantastic as the conflicted tragic hero. His fourth-wall breaking soliloquies illustrate his troubled inner psyche. He delivers his wry orations in a wink-nod fashion to let the audience know that Juicy is aware that his story parallels Hamlet’s. It is part of the brilliance of both Ijames’ script and Mabry’s deft portrayal.

Wildflower, King, and Davis lean into broad physical comedy with portrayals that are unapologetically theatrical. Whereas Handy’s comedy is grounded in her not-too-subtle expressive reactions.

McKinley’s buttoned up Marine Larry and Ferguson’s disinterest Opal both harbor family secrets. They do get the opportunity to play it for laughs, especially McKinley in the waining moments of the play, but their portrayals add more dramatic tension than comedic flair.

Patrick Huber’s set and lighting design, coupled with Tre’Von Griffith’s lighting design, and Andre Harrington’s costume designs give layered depth to Jones’ storytelling. The designer’s collaboration adds significant humor to the ghost’s appearances and the backyard shenanigans, while their shifts in lighting and sound heighten the more dramatic and violent parts of Ijames’s script.

The Black Rep’s production shows why Fat Ham was a hot ticket both on and off Broadway. Ijames hilarious script takes on socially relevant topics in his updated retelling of Hamlet. Geovonday Jones sharp direction and the cast’s dynamic comedic portrayals make this a show that cannot be missed.

Fat Ham, produced by The Black Rep, continues at the Edison Theatre on the Washington University Campus through June 7, 2026. Visit blackrep.org for tickets and information.

Photos by Howard Ash. Courtesy of The Black Rep.   

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