Behind the Curtain: Straight Up Shakespeare

By Kamilah Bush

Shakespeare’s Hamlet, likely written around 1600, is one of the theater’s most enduring works having been translated into 75 languages, adapted countless times and turned into more than 50 films.  James Ijames’ Pulitzer Prize winning redux Fat Ham, stands both in its timeless tradition and forges a path all its own. As Ijames states:

“I wanted to play with Shakespeare, if that makes sense. When I say “play with Shakespeare,” I mean in the sense of like “Do you want to go outside and play?” I wanted to…see if it would be fun to put something that I wrote right next to something that he wrote and that those things would flow one into the other. And they do.” 

In Fat Ham two of Shakespeare’s speeches appear mostly unedited from Hamlet. In an interview for the Folger Shakespeare Library’s podcast Shakespeare Unlimited (Episode 207) Ijames speaks of these additions like an artist samples a piece of music: “They’re taking it out of its original context and putting it into something utterly new to make something new.”

One such sampling, the infamous “Play’s the Thing” speech from Act 2 Scene 2, appears not before a play but before a spirited game of charades with similar intentions as in Shakespeare’s tale. The other, also from Act 2 Scene 2, “What a Piece of Work is Man”, however, finds itself recontextualized and utterly new. Of this Ijames says: 

“It’s not really about romance at all…and yet it comes on the heels of this scene in Fat Ham that is all about that…I haven’t changed any of the language there — but it all takes on a different meaning because of the context that I’ve placed it.” 

There are other lines in Fat Ham taken as James Ijames says “whole hog…pun intended” from Hamlet. Though centuries, cultures and contexts separate these two pieces, Shakespeare’s enduring language and Ijames’ deft storytelling connect Juicy and Hamlet by shared speech and similar circumstances. 

Need a refresher on all things Hamlet? Below is a summary of the Bard’s original work: 

A Ghostly Visit

The play begins with Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark and Horatio, a scholar, being visited by a ghost resembling Hamlet’s recently-deceased father and former king. The ghost tells Hamlet that the king was murdered by Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, who then ascended to the throne and married the widowed Queen, Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. The ghost implores Hamlet to avenge the king’s death by killing Claudius. Dealing with the grief from the sudden loss of his father, and the uncertainty of whether he should follow the ghost’s commands, Hamlet struggles to take immediate action. 

Hamlet’s Heart

Concerned by Hamlet’s erratic behavior, Gertrude and Claudius send his friends — Rosencrantz  and Guildenstern — to look after him. Ophelia, the Lord Polonius’ daughter, has been in love with Hamlet but their relationship suffers under the weight of Hamlet’s grief. Heartbroken over this, and the murder of her father at Hamlet’s hands, Ophelia eventually dies by suicide.

The Play’s the Thing

A group of traveling actors arrive and Hamlet employs them in a test for his uncle — they are to perform a play which resembles the story of his father’s murder in hopes that it will reveal Claudius’ guilt. Claudius responds to the play by storming out and Hamlet takes this as admission but when he goes to take his chance to kill, he finds his uncle praying. Afraid that killing him in prayer would send Claudius’ soul to heaven, Hamlet decides to wait.

A Tragic End

Fearing for his life, Claudius sends Hamlet to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, with orders for him to be killed. Hamlet escapes and switches his death order for those of his companions. When he returns to Denmark, Polonius’ son Laertes has also returned from France with the intention of avenging his father. In a plot with Claudius, Laertes attempts to kill Hamlet with a poison dipped sword. Claudius also keeps a poisoned drink nearby in case their plan fails. In the fight, both Hamlet and Laertes are wounded by the sword and before Laertes dies, he forgives Hamlet. Gertrude accidentally drinks from the poisoned cup and Hamlet stabs Claudius and forces him to finish the drink. In Hamlet’s final moments, having gotten his revenge, he stops Horatio from dying by suicide by begging him to stay alive and tell his tale.