As much as I love Macbeth, I dislike Hamlet. I've seen very few productions, and read it only begrudgingly while studying Shakespeare in grad school.
And as much as I dislike Hamlet, I love Fat Ham ten times more.
Dr. S and I jumped on the chance to see Fat Ham at Studio Theatre, claiming the same seats we had for the earlier production of Fun Home. And we were blown away.
James Ijame's adaptation is a brilliant treatise on the disruption of narratives in favor of telling individual stories. Fat Ham is about rejecting the roles in which people are cast, and fighting for their truths even when the dominant narrative prescribes otherwise. And it's so good; it's funny and human and tragic in ways that we all understanding and experience. The characters are a delight, and wonderfully portrayed in Studio Theatre's production. It's real and human, and absolutely refuses to fall into the trap of tragedy. While I prepared myself for a heavy examination of queer trauma, I found stalwart resolution that lead to joy.
I left the theatre floating,