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Regional Reviews: St. Louis Fat Ham
Our local "year of Hamlet" began with a traditional staging of the original five-act tragedy by the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival in the Spring of 2025. Then we got the backstory on King Claudius in Elsinore last October, by a newer group, Chorus of Fools. Next, at the end of March came another Festival production, Tom Stoppard's black comedy Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, co-produced by Albion Theatre. And now, completing what suddenly resembles a lost Greek trilogy (plus one), the Black Rep's Fat Ham rounds out an accidental cycle of plays with lots of laughs at Washington University's Edison Theatre. Fat Ham debuted in film format (owing to COVID-19 restrictions), produced by the Wilma Theater of Philadelphia, before moving to live performances at the Public Theater in New York in 2022, then transferring to Broadway's American Airlines Theatre. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama that year, as well as an Obie Award special citation for its Public Theater staging. There's hardly any drama in this new St. Louis premiere, but Marshall W. Mabry IV is melancholy and hilarious as Juicy, who mourns his father's violent death in prison, even as he prepares a backyard barbecue to celebrate his mother's hasty marriage to his uncle. The whole thing flows beautifully with lively characterizations and punchy dialog, some of which stems from the original owner of the intellectual property. But I suppose I was expecting something more–more "drama" to go with that Pulitzer, more poetically expressive moments, and more strange introspection. Maybe I'm just addicted to theatrical transcendence, or maybe, like a lot of local premieres, this one is just a bit overly-credulous. And yet, Fat Ham still manages nicely as a "couch play" moved out into a festive backyard on a lovely set by Patrick Huber, who also designed the lighting for this production. In spite of the source material, it may not be any more weighty than a butter biscuit, but, like Claudius himself, situation comedy makes for an undeniably eager "second husband" to a highly marriageable script. Enoch King plays both Juicy's ghostly father and his usurper uncle to outstanding effect. His death scene near the end is jaw-dropping. Angela Wildflower is a comedic five-alarm fire as Tedra, this iteration's loud and proud Queen Gertrude. Margery Handy is great as Rabby, a sort of female Polonius and the mother of Opal and Larry (Raevyn Ferguson and Brian McKinley). It all manages to be both fresh and familiar, with a bawdy style that's matched by some very up-to-date subject matter. The Murder of Gonzago, originally intended to reveal the guilty conscience of Claudius, is replaced by a funny game of charades, although it lacked a rhythmic turn the night I went. Olajuwon Davis is excellent as Tio, funny and louche and honest, and the play feels his absence in its middle section. Mr. McKinley, as Larry, is visually and psychologically magnificent in Marine dress blues, supplied by Andre Harrington, and the costumer heightens Larry's final appearance on stage with a Cinemascopic wardrobe change late in the action. Raevyn Ferguson is subtle and comically despondent as Opal, driven mad by her mother in this case, rather than by Juicy. All the performances are perfectly shaped into a forest of psychological bonsai trees, beautifully sculpted by director Jones. But the show seems blind to any larger framing devices, bypassing most visual opportunities for dramatic scale or reckoning–antithetical though they may be in a crazy family dynamic like this. Fat Ham, produced by The St. Louis Black Repertory, continues through June 7, 2026, at the Edison Theatre, 6465 Forsyth Blvd., St. Louis MO. For tickets and information, please visit theblackrep.org. Cast: Production Staff: * Denotes Member, Actors' Equity Association |
