Review: FAT HAM at Wilbury Theatre Group

The Rhode Island Premiere of James Ijames' 2022 Pultizer Prize Winner for Drama "Fat Ham" could not have come at a better time for any of us. 

Premiering in Philadelphia in 2021 and later nominated for five Tony Awards, "Fat Ham" tells the tale of Juicy, a queer Southern College kid grappling with his own identity when the ghost of his father appears to him asking him to avenge his murder.  The only problem is the man his father's ghost indicates is his killer is his uncle and, even worse, is his mother's new husband, celebrating their wedding at this moment at a family barbecue.  Juicy, played by an incredibly-talented Dana Reid, who like most of the stellar cast, is making their Wilbury Premiere, struggles with what to do with his new-found information from his dead father.  "What do you do if God don't want you and the devil won't have you?"

Jermaine L. Pearson plays a stellar dual role as Juicy's dead father Pap as well as his unforgiving uncle and new Step-father Rev. Pearson's Rev's character strikes at the heart of those who can't see people as they really are or want to be instead of the mold he wants them to fit into.  Maria Albertina plays Juicy's mom Tedra, who clearly just needs a man in her life no matter the cost with Juicy's father only been dead a month when she took Rev's hand in marriage. 

But when Juicy confronts Tedra on what the ghost told him, she is quick to point out that his Pap was no saint.   Tedra interrupts Juicy as he's talking to the audience about his Pap, and directs her own words to the crowd.  "He wasn't good", she said to him and the audience, "tell them the truth!"  To make matters for Juicy worse, his mother tells him that his college funds have been spent on Rev's remodeling of their bathroom that went over-budget and that his school will need to take a break for the time-being.   

Rounding out the cast includes Mamadou Toure as gender-struggling family friend Larry, Autumn Mist Jefferson as the despondent but incredibly funny Opal and two returning Wilbury vets in Jeff Ararat as Juicy's stoned friend Tio "I always thought your momma was hot, even when I was a kid" and Michelle L. Walker as the hilarious Tedra friend Rabby "How can a muppet be sexy?"

In "Fat Ham", a somewhat modern update of Shakespeare's "Hamlet", which Juicy quotes fluidly throughout the performance, every character has their own struggles, with the young family members in Juicy, Opal and Larry struggling to break out of the typical roles and genders they have been assigned yet can't seem to fit into for most of their lives.  For the older family members, it's a struggle of acceptance-of accepting to be alone with your own thoughts or to accept what your children have become right before your very eyes, whether you want it or not.

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