Fat Ham in Boston

[Photo by Nile Hawver. ]

This bold, brave, shocking, and hilarious reconsideration of Shakespeare’s Hamlet could be viewed as a challenge to the Western canon and the assumption that revenge is the only response to violence and humiliation. While the play starts with a situation much like Hamlet (ghost of dead father demands that son avenge his death), it careens off in other queer and joyous directions. If Black is the opposite of white and love is the opposite of hate, then Fat Ham is the opposite of Hamlet, yet just as rich in its exploration of human longing. See my review here.