Latest news with #FatHam
Miami Herald
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
GableStage's ‘Fat Ham' is part of a juicy regional collaboration
Maybe the seemingly long haul on I-95 made treacherous by traffic congestion creates the Miami-Dade County and Broward County division among its residents. While there are plenty of reasons someone from one county or the other will say they don't venture north or south, arts groups are well aware there's a definite line in the sand. So, when three professional theater companies, two from Broward and one from Miami-Dade, came together to collaborate on the production of James Ijames' Pulitzer Prize-winning 'Fat Ham,' it was, in no uncertain terms, heralded as a historic partnership. Then there was a fourth cog in the wheel, the Fort Lauderdale-based Warten Foundation that wanted to support the newly formed theater trinity of Wilton Manors' Island City Stage, Pompano Beach's Brévo Theatre, and Coral Gables' GableStage, with a $250,000 grant to help fund the South Florida premiere of 'Fat Ham.' 'Fat Ham' opened at Island City Stage on Friday, April 3 and ran through Sunday, May 4. Now it moves to GableStage, opening Friday, May 16 and running through Sunday, June 15. A modern interpretation of William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' set at a Southern Black family's backyard barbecue, the playwright, originally from North Carolina, creates parallel's between the classic play as Juicy, a 20-year-old gay Black man living in the South is visited by the ghost of his father asking him to avenge his death. Pap, Juicy's father, says his brother had him killed so that he could marry his widow and take over the family business. Bari Newport, producing artistic director of GableStage, had plans to produce 'Fat Ham.' She says she obtained the rights to stage the show but hadn't moved forward in putting it on GableStage's season calendar. 'I was sitting on the rights,' she says. 'It's an incredible piece of writing and it isn't a Pulitzer Prize winner for nothin.' But I wanted to partner with the right director.' Newport received a call from the licensing agent at Concord Theatricals, explaining that another theater company 'about 30 miles away' wanted to present 'Fat Ham.' 'They didn't think that would be a problem because, quote, we didn't share an audience. And I said, 'Well, I think it is a problem,' and I asked who the company was.' When the agent said Island City Stage, Newport's wheels started turning. What if the two companies did it together somehow? 'Why say no to their production when I could just say yes to our production?' She says that the Warten Foundation, which had a relationship with Island City Stage, was 'tickled' by this experiment and that some of the foundation members had been to plays at GableStage. Island City's founding artistic director Andy Rogow then mentioned that he had been in conversations with Brévo Theatre, a young Black theater company based in Pompano Beach, founded by Florida A&M grads Zaylin Yates and TM Pride. The company had worked with Island City on Tarell Alvin McCraney's 'The Brothers Size.' Pride was the perfect fit to direct the production, which would keep the same cast for both companies. (There is one replacement in the GableStage production because of a scheduling conflict with the first actress who played Tedra. At GableStage, Tedra will be played by Dina Lewis). 'Zaylin says it best when he talks about the play,' says Pride. 'The fact that Ijames was able to write a play that can fit three completely different visions – Island City Stage who focuses on LBGTQ issues, GableStage where one part of their mission is the idea of tackling today's issues, and then Brévo, where we put the focus on Black voices and young artists, so it was the perfect play for us to come to the table with.' Newport's idea to hold on to the play until she could fit the pieces together with the right director who understood the play's voice and perspective was on point. Pride agrees about knowing the narrative intrinsically. 'The beautiful thing about being able to direct 'Fat Ham' is having that experience. I know what Juicy is going through. I know this story. I know this family. And bringing the actors together who share that with me. They've said to me, 'We get to be ourselves. We don't even have to do all this deep, intense character development.' And all within a framework that is traditionally white America, or European theater.' Pride says he believes audiences will relate to the family dynamics present in the play. 'What we've done with the collaboration, too, is really about building community and establishing relationships and helping people to see how we're more alike than different.' Other cast members in the GableStage production, all South Florida actors, are Toddra Brunson, Henry Cadet, Melvin Huffnagle, Cassidy Joseph, Denzel McCausland, and Mikhael Mendoza. There were slight adjustments that had to be made to have the play move from Island City Stage to GableStage. 'None of us have ever done it before in terms of creating a show for two different spaces, and two very different spaces, at that.' Moving 'Fat Ham' south didn't require many changes. GableStage's stage is a bit wider so it allowed for the set to expand a bit. Island City Stage's intimate venue has 65 seats while GableStage has more than double the amount at 135, but also not a large theater. 'We've made some subtle changes with costuming. Also, we've done a more elaborate light design at GableStage.' Both artistic directors, who often direct their shows, were integral in shaping the productions, too. 'Fat Ham' is an extremely smart script and that's who our audience is. They are a sophisticated group of theater lovers who want to go away talking about the piece that they just experienced and they want to see it excellently executed,' says Newport. For the Warten Foundation, the regional production of 'Fat Ham' checked all the boxes for its funding mission. ' . . . The collaboration, the diversity, all of it,' says Clifford J. Cideko, chairman of the Fort-Lauderdale based philanthropy group founded by the late Frederick Warten. 'I said, 'We have to do this.' We are focused on diversity and bringing people together. If there is someone on the fence about certain issues, or someone who isn't aware, even if one person sees this show and it changes their perspective, that we use the power of live theater to get people talking, then (our contribution) has been a success.' If you go: WHAT: 'Fat Ham' by James Ijames, a coproduction of Island City Stage, Brévo Theatre, and GableStage WHERE: GableStage in the Biltmore Hotel, 1200 Anastasia Ave., Coral Gables WHEN: Opens with a preview on Friday, May 16 with public opening on Saturday, May 17. 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 2 p.m. Wednesday and Sunday. Through Sunday, June 15. The show closes with a 'Fat Ham' barbecue following the performance. COST: $55 and $65 includes $10 service fee (discounts for students, teachers, artists, military and groups). INFORMATION: 305-445-1119 or is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don't miss a story at
BBC News
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Inside the fortress that inspired Hamlet
As Radiohead and the RSC launch an innovative reinterpretation of Hamlet, a visit to the play's setting in Denmark brings a new dimension to the tragedy. There's a cold wind blowing from the Øresund Sound as I stand on a platform in front of Kronborg Castle in Helsingør, Denmark, looking out to Sweden. At one end of the platform, a pillar-box red guard post stands beside a row of impressive cannons facing the strait. I'm not here for the view though: I'm looking for ghosts. This windy spot is the exact location for the opening scene of Hamlet, Shakespeare's best-known tragedy. Here, two guards, Francisco and Bernardo, switch posts in the middle of the night and speak of the ghost of Hamlet's father. The castle behind me, a grand Renaissance pile built in 1574 complete with fairytale turrets, a moat and a grand banqueting hall, is where the rest of the lurid drama unfolds. This year, the Royal Shakespeare Company is presenting no fewer than three variations on the story: a radical adaptation using Radiohead's album Hail to the Thief as its score (from 27 April); Fat Ham, a comic tragedy that transplants Hamlet's story into the Deep South (from 15 August); and a traditional take in Rupert Goold's production starring Luke Thallon (from 8 February). For context, the last time the RSC staged Hamlet was back in 2006. "There's something in the air right now saying that the play has resonance," says Tamara Harvey, co-artistic director at the RSC, noting that all three producers had approached the RSC to stage their productions in the same year. As a play that deals with themes of generational differences and changing world orders, not to mention the sense that "there's something rotten in the state of Denmark" – the idea that society's foundations no longer feel secure – it's hard to miss its appeal. Today, nothing looks rotten in Helsingør – the modern-day name for Shakespeare's town of Elsinore. The sky is blue and the sun is glinting off a gold flag flying at the top of one of the turrets. I'm on a tour with castle host Louise Older Steffensen to uncover Kronborg's Hamlet connections. Our feet echo as we walk around the stone corridors and into the grand ballroom with its chequerboard floor and soaring wooden ceiling, as she tells me there is no evidence that Shakespeare ever visited Kronborg – but he certainly knew it well. "We have contracts that tell us that Shakespeare's colleagues visited the castle," she says. "We know that the actors Thomas Pope, George Bryan and William Kempe were here for a season, performing plays for the Danish king. When they returned to England, they set up the Lord Chamberlain's Men, Shakespeare's company." They may have brought back tales of what happened within its walls. A distinctive celebration is mentioned in the play: a toast followed by the bang of a kettle drum, a trumpet, and a cannon – and it comes from a tradition followed in the castle at that time. In a dimly lit room next to the ballroom, the tapestries from that era are on display, their gilded threads depicting mythologised kings. Long curtains hang around the queen's bedchamber and around the castle, softening the sandstone walls, dampening sound and making it a fraction warmer – as well as providing opportunities for dramatic intrigue. Visiting the castle feels like being immersed in the play, walking down the large gallery where the silk dresses of the ladies-in-waiting would have rustled into its beautifully preserved church. It's as if the play itself has come to life, and the castle plays up to that theatricality. In the summer, special tours invite guests to participate in Hamlet-inspired murder mystery-style tours, and in the autumn, Hallowe'en tours take place in the creepy basements. Nobody, to date, has seen the ghost of Hamlet's father – but there have been other ghostly sightings, according to Steffensen and assorted castle guides. More clues about the importance of this castle to Shakespeare emerge as Steffensen gives me a history lesson. James I married Denmark's teenage princess, Anne, in 1589. When Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603 and King James ascended to the throne, England had a Danish queen. "The first quarto – written very early in 1603 – is set in Denmark," said Steffensen, "but there are no specific locations in it. After Anne becomes Queen of England, we get references to the castle itself." King James became the patron of Shakespeare's company and their name changed from "The Lord Chamberlain's Men" to "The King's Men" in 1603. Queen Anne's castle in Denmark became an important location for the royal family and thus gained a starring role in the play. We climb to the top of the cannon tower, a large flat space in a corner of the castle. Views reach across the moat to the yellow barracks buildings around it and to the town beyond. It's in one of these barracks buildings, the former infirmary that is now the headquarters of the town's Shakespeare Festival, where I find out more about the legacy of Hamlet in Helsingør. Lars Romann Engel, CEO and artistic director of HamletScenen, the castle's professional theatre body, welcomes me into a hallway-cum-gallery of Hamlet actors through the decades. In a who's who of Hamlets, black and white headshots of Jude Law, Kenneth Branagh, Sir John Gielgud, Derek Jacobi, David Tennant, Richard Burton and Christopher Plummer cover the walls and stairwell. Hamlet played a part in reinventing this town into a cultural hub after its shipbuilding industry collapsed in the 1980s, as the municipality devised a way to create a producing theatre at the Unesco-listed castle. Engel set up the town's Shakespeare festival, which takes place at the castle every August, showing adaptations of Hamlet in many guises; previous shows have included Spaghetti Western versions, dark German variants by experimental theatre Schaubüne and a sell-out staging starring Jude Law. As well as Hamlet, the festival typically also produces a lighter Shakespeare work, often with music and other events. Both plays are performed in the open air with the castle as a backdrop; tickets book out a long way in advance and the audience typically shows up with a picnic. More like this:• Nordhavn: The Danish 'city' that's been designed for an easy life• Denmark's surf town where old-school fishermen and surfers live in harmony• Copenhagen's 'CopenPay' scheme rewards tourists – but does it actually work? A trained theatre director himself, Engel directed a very successful adaptation of Hamlet in 2008, set in the castle's courtyard with tumbledown walls and crumbling masonry – starring a young Claes Bang as Rosenkrantz – and, after a mutual decision with the local municipality, set up the festival following its success. He has been running and directing the event for the past 17 years. "When you see Hamlet here, you know that you enter the myth," said Engel. "Now you are at the epicentre of it all. It's a special thing: it was actually here that it was written for." Engel takes me on a tour of some of the other barracks buildings, ending in the Lapidarium, the sculpture storage room of the castle, where a full-size sculpture of Shakespeare sits beside a sleeping Viking warrior, Holger Danske. Danske is another significant figure for the castle: according to legend, when Denmark needs him, he'll wake up and come to its aid. A reproduction of this original model lurks in the gloom of the castle cellars. Engel is in the throes of arranging this year's festival, which will take place 6-24 August and feature both Twelfth Night and Hamlet, performed by The Lord Chamberlain's Men, who take a classical Elizabethan approach to the works and perform with an all-male cast. "This year we've taken a more classical approach," said Engel, "because right now the world is edgy. When we are a little afraid, we don't like it to be upside down and we want it to be more as we know it." In testament to the endless ways the play can be reinvented, however, Engel also plans to put on Eddie Izzard's one-person Hamlet at the stage this year. It's often said that every minute of every day, Hamlet is being performed somewhere in the world. Shakespeare's most popular play in his lifetime has an afterlife, 425 years later, that surpasses all expectations. "It's one of the greatest pieces of writing in the English language, dealing with the very nature of human existence," says Harvey. "A play wrangling with this fundamental issue with such complexity is always going to mean different things to different people." Visiting Kronborg Castle, experiencing the "set" of the play in real life, certainly brings it to life. As I exit the castle, crossing the bridge over the moat, past the guardhouse to the grass fortifications around the castle, the sounds of marching feet echo through the sound system. I'm back in the world of the play, at the end of Hamlet, joining the march where the prince's body is taken away. -- For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Boston Globe
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
‘Fat Ham' is a frivolous but fearless re-conception of ‘Hamlet'
Get Globe Rhode Island Food Club A weekly newsletter about food and dining in Rhode Island, by Globe Rhode Island reporter Alexa Gagosz. Enter Email Sign Up Given the play's long and varied history, the question 'to be, or not to be' comes to mind regarding playwright James Ijames' 'Fat Ham,' which made its off-Broadway debut at The Public Theatre in 2022 and transferred to Broadway in 2023. Does the world need another play that walks in the shadow of Shakespeare's masterwork? Advertisement The answer is no, particularly since the Broadway production of 'Fat Ham' lost in all five Tony categories for which it was nominated. Still, Wilbury Theatre Co.'s thoroughly enjoyable Rhode Island premiere of the play is a welcome indulgence. Advertisement 'Hamlet' is set in Denmark in the late Middle Ages and finds its melancholic lead character and his level-headed friend Horatio visited by the ghost of Hamlet's dead father, the King, who asks his son to exact revenge against his uncle. Claudius had murdered him in order to seize the throne and marry Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, which has led Hamlet to grapple with emotional trauma and a sense of betrayal that has him questioning his identity, responsibility, and life itself. 'Fat Ham' transfers this story to a contemporary time and place — a backyard barbecue in North Carolina (realistically rendered by scenic designer Shanel LaShay Smith, lighting designer Andy Russ, and costumer Jaimy A. Escobedo) — over the course of one eventful afternoon. Juicy (a remote but endearing Dana Reid) isn't a Danish prince. He's a Black, queer, and sensitive heir to the family barbecue and butcher business, one that he has turned his back on for an online degree in human resources. The party is a celebration of the nuptials between his Mom, Tedra (a dynamic Maria Albertina, who fully embraces Ijames' depiction of 'Hamlet's' Gertrude as a sex-starved vixen) and his Uncle Rev (Jermaine L. Pearson, a particularly caustic Claudius equivalent). In attendance are Juicy's Horatio-adjacent friend Tio (an engaging Jeff Ararat, whose exaggerated stoner antics often go too far to be funny), childhood friend Opal (a flat-out terrific Autumn Mist Jefferson, who serves up an intriguing take on the insecurities of 'Hamlet's' Ophelia), her brother, Larry (an appropriately stoic, Laertes-like Mamadou Toure), and their Bible-toting Mom, Rabby (a delightful Michelle L. Walker). The act of revenge is an opportunity for Juicy to prove to the men in his family that he isn't soft and he isn't weak. Advertisement One has to squint hard to find other 'Hamlet' connections in this play, for 'Fat Ham' has reduced the epic five acts to a 90 minute one-act, and it is a full-fledged comedy rather than a dark tragedy. Missing is Shakespeare's poeticism, though director Don Mays and his cast find the lyric rhythms in Ijames' writing. A few short direct address soliloquies pop up as well, as does the pilfering of some of Hamlet's best lines, but those moments are few, forced, and slow to develop. There are also moments that just don't work. The brief game of charades, for example, which replaces the performance of a traveling troupe of actors in 'Hamlet' that is intended to gauge Claudius's reaction and potentially expose his guilt, goes nowhere. There's a karaoke scene that is fun but frivolous. And the play's ending, which fizzles out, is disappointing as well. Still, one can't overlook the reason why 'Fat Ham' received the 2022 Pulitzer Prize and admire the work accordingly. The play is a fearless portrayal of a sensitive and self-aware main character — purposefully cast as Black and gay — who chooses to break a cycle of trauma and deny a legacy of brutality in service of his own liberation. Unlike Hamlet, Juicy chooses pleasure over pain. Amidst the laughs and missteps, Ijames crafts a tender story. And that story is well rendered in this intimate Wilbury Theatre staging. FAT HAM Book by James Ijames. Directed by Don Mays. At Wilbury Theatre Group, WaterFire Arts Center, 475 Valley St., Providence. Through April 13. Tickets are $5-$55. 401-400-7100, Advertisement Bob Abelman is an award-winning theater critic who formerly wrote for the Austin Chronicle. Connect with him
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Columbus business steps up after Contemporary Theatre of Ohio's grant money frozen
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The Contemporary Theatre of Ohio was set to receive a federal grant from the National Endowment of the Arts at the beginning of this month, but due to an executive order signed by President Trump, the funds were frozen. After hearing about this, the owners of a local business — The Kitchen — Jen Lindsey and Anne Boninsegna decided to donate money to the theatre themselves. 'We feel very connected to being able to give back to our community in any kind of way that we can,' Lindsey said. 'We have received such generous support through the time that we were doing our Kickstarter campaign to open. We fundamentally believe that you should be a good neighbor.' Why Intel says it had to delay its Ohio One project in New Albany Lindsey expressed she and her business partner were filled with disappointment once they learned the Contemporary Theatre of Ohio's $10,000 grant from the NEA was frozen days before the opening of 'Fat Ham,' a show that had been planned for a year. The executive director of the Contemporary Theatre of Ohio, Christy Farnbauch shared her surprise when she found out what The Kitchen owners wanted to do to help. 'She called me and said they wanted to do $10,000,' Farnbauch said. 'We were, we are so grateful for that support and, you know, it really speaks to the power of small business, particularly women-owned businesses. Complete surprise and gratitude. Just complete surprise and gratitude.' The owners gave the same amount of money the theatre was set to receive from the grant, noting it was the least they could do because of all the support they have gotten from the community. National coffee chain to open drive-thru in parking lot of northeast Columbus Meijer On the last night of 'Fat Ham,' Farnbauch shared the news about the donation and said everyone was overwhelmed. Lindsey hopes this shines a light on the impact anyone can make if they do what they feel is right. 'I think the takeaway message is that you should, as a human, stand up and do what's right in your heart for what you feel to be your community and things that you find valuable to you,' Lindsey said. 'For us, arts and culture is a savior.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Axios
14-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
St. Patrick's Day Parade, TobyMac and other weekend events
🎭 To go or not to go? Catch a performance of Pulitzer Prize–winning "Fat Ham," a modern take on a Shakespeare classic at Riffe Center's Studio One. 8pm Friday and Saturday, 2pm Sunday, 77 S. High St. $52. ☘️ Get in the St. Patrick's Day spirit with the "Greenest, Grandest Parade" throughout Dublin. 11am Saturday. Free! 🕯️ Make your own candle at a Vella & Co. pouring workshop. 11:30am Saturday, 1128 N. High St. $45-70, includes candle and tote bag. 🙏 Christian music star TobyMac brings his "Hits Deep" tour to Nationwide Arena. 6:30pm Sunday. $25+. 🤣 Laugh along when the Mershon Auditorium hosts comedian Jake Shane, best known for his silly TikTok reenactments of historical events. 8pm Sunday, 1871 N. High St. $40-60.
