Fat Ham at Dillard University’s Cook Theater through February 6
Forsooth, get thee to Fat Ham, the brilliant Pulitzer Prize-winning dramedy being given its regional premiere by The NOLA Project at Dillard University’s Cook Theater. Playwright James Ijames has reconfigured Hamlet so that its famously dysfunctional family is no longer fighting over Denmark but, rather, a BBQ restaurant in the South.
You don’t need to be familiar with Shakespeare’s melancholy Prince but it will add to your enjoyment as Fat Ham sticks to the basic outlines of the Bard’s most well-known play (guy murders his brother, marries his wife, dead guy’s ghost asks son to revenge the deed). In Fat Ham, however, the protagonist becomes Juicy, a sensitive queer Black 20something who occasionally breaks into the original iambic pentameter.
Ijames uses this framework to examine toxic masculinity, sexuality, family loyalty, inherited trauma, and much more, but “examines” is too dry a word; Fat Ham is also fun and witty and wildly imaginative as, to pick just one example, the play within the play turns into a game of charades.
Tenaj Wallace’s deft direction walks the fine line between farce and tragedy with gripping results. If she cannot quite provide the special effects seen in the original New York production, she has wisely pared down its original overlong finale.
Fat Ham sports a most excellent cast, all of whom speak their speeches trippingly on their tongues. Delphine J. as Juicy’s Mom (the Gertrude equivalent) beautifully conveys her torn loyalties between (new) husband and son, and displays a wonderfully “terrible” voice during a karaoke performance. Justin William Davis, seamlessly switches back and forth in the dual roles of Rev and Pap (Claudius and Hamlet’s father), and brings menace and swagger to each.
Justin William Davis, Delphine J., and Rayshaughn Armant in Fat Ham
Rayshaughn Armant, an actor new to me, terrifically communicates Juicy’s confusion, stunted emotional development, and his tendency to too deep thoughts. Wayland Cooper (Laertes), Riga Ruby (Polonius recast as a church lady with a checkered past), Jordan Melancon (Horatio), and Condoleezza Semien (Ophelia) excellently round out the cast; the last two are Dillard students making auspicious professional debuts.
To see or not to see Fat Ham? To see it, indeed.
[For tickets and more information, go to https://www.nolaproject.com/fatham]
Somnotomy at CANOA through January 26
At CANOA, an appealing new venue in the Bywater, Intramural Theater is presenting the world premiere of Somnotomy, a devised play in which a brother (Domino) and sister (Jane), who run a Broadmoor coffee shop, await their wealthy father’s release from prison for insider trading or some such nefarious financial wrongdoing. Jane is plagued each night by a “sleep paralysis demon” who takes the form of her rap music crush, Papa Star, a local gent who’s achieved stratospheric stardom.
When Francois, a freelance “sleep interventionist/dream projectionist”, offers to banish Jane’s demon, things get complicated and messy, especially because Papa Star’s romantic interest, Essa, just happens to be Jane & Domino’s tenant/friend.
It’s all a bit of a mishigas, but an entertaining one that keeps you wondering how things will turn out. Still, I think an even more engrossing, richer play could have been devised by a deeper exploration of the siblings’ family dynamic and bringing on stage their ne’er-do-well Dad, a role that seems as though it could’ve been written with a Pacino, De Niro or some such bigger-than-life personality in mind.
Bennett Kirschner, who also served as lead playwright with T Clark, directed fluidly, allowing the story to unfold with clarity.
The entire cast was up to Intramural’s usual high standards. Mary Langley, as the tightly wound Jane, added another fine portrayal to her resume. Ja’Quan Henderson endowed Francois with precise, and amusing, nerdiness. Monica R. Harris gave Essa an endearing down-to-earth quality (tho if a pop megastar asked me to run away with him, I’d say “Yes” in a nanosecond). And Topher Johnson, as Domino, oozed obnoxious flakiness.
I was especially impressed by Sly Watts, a local musician who I’d not seen before, who quick-changed between the charismatic yet decent Papa Star and Tramfogor, the maleficent sleep demon; as the later, Watts made me want to see him as one of the classic Elizabethan/Jacobean stage villains.
Sly Watts in Somnotomy
Steve Gilliland was fine as the café’s lone customer, a hustling real estate developer, but his sound design was even better as Tramfogor’s amped-up voice seemed to come out of nowhere. Equally fantastic was Stephen Thurber’s lighting which literally transformed with the snap of a finger.
If you prefer quirky theater to Carnival’s street theatrics, by all means do try to see Somnotomy.
[More info and tickets at https://www.intramuraltheater.org/somnotomy]
Blithe Spirit at Le Petit Theatre through January 25
It takes nearly 3 hours, but the final moments of Blithe Spirit are slam-bang and filled with theatrical magic and surprises. The road there, however, in Ricky Graham’s solid but not spectacular revival at Le Petit Theatre is a looong one.
Blithe Spirit is Noël Coward’s comedy about novelist Charles Condomine, his wife Ruth, and the soignée ghost of his late wife, Elvira; when Elvira, with an assist from the eccentric medium Madam Arcati, comes back from the afterlife, a supernatural love triangle ensues.
There is humor here but lots of exposition, and talk of cocktails and tea and dressing for dinner (how quaint). (Would that they could’ve used the script for the cinematic version which came in at a fleet 95 minutes.) Graham’s static direction doesn’t help as, too often, we watch the cast sit and talk for long stretches. That said, you can hardly blame them for enjoying what seems to be the extremely comfortable furnishings of Andre LaSalle’s elegant set.
One just wishes that, rather than giving us a production that takes us back to what Le Petit might have presented in, say, the 1950s, Graham & Co. had reinterpreted the script in some way since its dramaturgy is a little creaky now. As a friend who saw it a week after I did, texted, “I so want to adore Coward, but this performance didn’t charm me. I saw it staged in Arkansas decades ago done a la the Beverly Hillbillies. Now that was funny!”
Vatican Lokey (Charles), Ashley Santos (Ruth), Jessie Terrebonne (Elivira) and Graham (Madame Arcati; apparently Graham stepped into the role when the original actress had to drop out five days before rehearsals began) all give accomplished performances as one would expect from such experienced thespians. Still, I wish there had been a little less yelling and a little more nuance.
Vatican Lokey, Ashley Santos, Jessie Terrebonne in Blithe Spirit
At least Terrebonne spices things up when Elvira finally appears towards the end of Act One. Santos, whom I’ve admired in numerous productions of Shakespeare and contemporary plays, crisply elucidates Coward’s words just as she does the Bard’s verse, and her innate charm prevents Ruth from coming off as merely a shrew. Ashley Smetherman Lemmler and Kyle Daigrepont are both very good, if underutilized, in supporting roles.
I would just take objection to Bethany Lee’s portrayal of Edith, the Condomines’ maid. That she and Graham had decided to make her klutzy is one thing. To have her swilling gin and eating leftover tea sandwiches before she even gets to the kitchen—and play this for laughs–however, is an insult to all hardworking home staff members, especially at a time when many members of that community are under siege. Rather than being funny, it was insulting and cringey.
Having recently given us Oscar Wilde and, now, Noel Coward, I hope Le Petit will soon offer the next in that great line of farceurs provocateurs, Joe Orton. What the Butler Saw anyone?
[More info and tickets at https://[https//www.lepetittheatre.com/events/blithe-spirit]https://www.lepetittheatre.com/events/blithe-spirit]
