Virginia Stage Company was honored to correspond with playwright James Ijames just before the rehearsal began for his masterful and transformative play FAT HAM on The Wells Theatre stage. Come learn more about the show, it’s reach history and humor, and what audiences of Hampton Roads can uniquely benefit from with this show!

About Fat Ham

Fat Ham reimagines Shakespeare’s Hamlet in a Southern barbecue setting. What inspired you to reinterpret this classic play in such a unique context?

James Ijames: Well I have always loved Hamlet from when I first read it in college. I identified with the outsider quality I read in Hamlet the character. But I also so themes running through the play that felt really contemporary. Themes of cycles of violence in families, loneliness in a family, and modalities of masculinity. So I started messing around with my version to see how those themes would show up. And Fat Ham is the product of that.

How did you approach blending Shakespearean themes like revenge, grief, and family with contemporary elements, such as humor and queer identity?

James Ijames: You know, I don’t think humor or queer identity in storytelling is particularly new. Shakespeare himself employs humor and what I read as a kind of queer double entrendre. I use those elements in all of my work because they are a part of how I move through the world. I bring humor and my identity as a Black Queeer person into everything I make, because it makes sense. 

What are your thoughts about revenge vs. redemption in Fat Ham?

James Ijames:I think the play is saying you can’t really get revenge. Revenge takes what it wants. Redemption is personal. It’s work you have to do on yourself in community with other people. So I think the play tells us to leave revenge to revenge and to take up the very deep and personal work of redemption. 

In Fat Ham, you weave in themes of trauma and generational cycles. What message did you want to convey about breaking or confronting these cycles?

James Ijames:That they can be broken. More easily for some than others but breaking cycles is possible. 

On Playwriting and Theatre:

Your work often explores the intersection of race, queerness, and Southern identity. How have your personal experiences shaped your voice as a playwright?

James Ijames: Well I think all writers are products of their time and experiences and I don’t think I’m any different. I also like writing Black people, and queer people, and southern people. They are my favorite subjects. Not because I have affinity with them, but because I find those experiences endlessly explorable. You just can’t hit the bottom of what it means to be inside of those identities. So maybe it’s my project a little, to bring those experiences to as many people as possible with as much depth and complexity as I can muster.

As a Black queer playwright, do you feel a particular responsibility or pressure to represent certain narratives? How do you navigate that in your work?

James Ijames: I don’t really feel pressure in any direction cause I can only write what I can write. I’m fortunate that my curiosities and the expectations of me, based on my identity, align. And I’m okay with that. I think the pressure I feel more than anything is to but really people and relationships on stage. That my characters are no angels or demons but some human combination of those impulses. 

How do you think theater can continue to evolve to be more inclusive and representative of marginalized voices?

James Ijames: Theater is very slow. It takes a long time to make it. It takes a lot of people to make it. I think our industry is trying and has great intentions around representation. I think we need to shift our thinking from “who’s in the room” to “How can we make EVERYONE feel they belong in this room” and the room I’m talking about is the theater. I believe that is the problem. We can get anyone into those does with the right marketing, programs, etcs. But when they get there…do you make those populations feel they belong? 

Career and Future Directions:

You’ve won a Pulitzer Prize and many other accolades. What impact have these recognitions had on your career and artistic approach?

James Ijames: They have had a tremendous impact. Mostly they have made me braver? I take more risk. I have more visibility so things move smoother. I think the Pulitzer in particular changed how I was viewed and in many ways changed how I saw myself. 

What advice would you give to emerging playwrights, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds?

James Ijames: See as much theater as you can, network horizontally with your peers (don’t look up look to your side), make your own opportunities, build real artistic relationships, be seismic (by this I mean, exist in a deep underground, like tectonic plates, so when you move you create the largest wave.), go outside and be in the world, don’t shun embarrassment, never capitulate to shame, kiss people, have your heartbroken, talk to strangers.

Are there any new themes, genres, or stories that you are particularly interested in exploring in future works?

James Ijames: Tons! Doing research on Maritime Archeology as we speak.

What do you hope audiences take away from Fat Ham and your body of work as a whole?

James Ijames:That what is doesn’t have to be unless we want it to be. The people have the power.

Hampton Roads Specific:

What do you hope audiences in Hampton Roads will take away from this production of Fat Ham that might be different from audiences in other regions?

James Ijames: I hope they have a great time and it makes them feel closer to their families.

Larry is a closeted, queer service member struggling with his identity and relationships with his friends and family. Considering Hampton Roads proximity to military bases and its own distinct southern heritage, how do you think the themes of family, duty and personal identity will resonate with local audiences?

James Ijames: I think they will respond to it in a very familiar way. I think it will be recognizable to them.