Je'Shaun Jackson and Marva Williams-Parker Photo by Mikki Schaffner

In fact, "soft" is Ijames's operative word for Juicy (Je'Shaun Jackson), the play's incarnation of the Prince of Denmark. In this version, the character is neither gloomy nor suicidal. In fact, as a young, gay, "thicc" (slang for sweetly overweight) person, Juicy claims that being soft is their M.O., despite the pushback and criticism heaped on them by other characters. However, like Hamlet, Juicy is indecisive about the path he's meant to follow. Juicy is haunted by Pap (David Everett Moore), his father who was murdered in prison (where he was serving time for the unwarranted murder of an employee at the family-owned barbecue joint). Like the ghost of Hamlet's father, Pap rematerializes (amusingly, in fact) to demand vengeance. Juicy hesitates and waffles, dubious of being sucked into the cycle of generational violence–"Like, your Pop went to jail, his Pop went to jail, his Pop went to jail, his Pop went to jail, and what's before that? Huh? Slavery. It's inherited trauma," in the words of Juicy's animated friend Tio (Geoffrey Warren Barnes II, in a physically spirited yet often insightful role), who is Fat Ham's version of Horatio.

Other characters have issues and closely held family secrets that eventually burst forth. Juicy's mother Tedra (Marva Williams-Parker in the play's reflection of Queen Gertrude) has impulsively and quickly married Pap's ill-tempered, violent brother Rev (Moore's second and larger role), who's probably responsible for Pap's murder in prison. Larry (Malik Smith, in the role inspired by Shakespeare's Laertes) is back from a stint in the Marines, arriving in full dress uniform, but likely suffering from PTSD and even more fundamental doubts about his sexuality. His sister, cantankerous and sullen Opal (Jasimine Bouldin), the new incarnation of Ophelia, knows she's a lesbian, but hasn't been able to say so to her larger-than-life mother, Rabby (Burgess Byrd), a new version of Hamlet's stuffed shirt and verbose Polonius. A local stage veteran, Byrd is one of the show's unbridled comic centers.

Each member of this ensemble shines in unexpected moments: Williams-Parker performs a mad dance inspired by karaoke; Barnes delivers a hilarious monologue about a hallucinatory drug-induced dream involving a lascivious gingerbread man; and Smith makes a remarkable transformation, supported by a startling evolution of the set (cleverly designed by Chris Holloway and Samantha Reno). Moore, playing both irritable (and deceased) Pap and arrogant Rev, clearly distinguishes between the brothers while also representing the genetic pool that Juicy is eager to swim out of.

But it's Jackson (a 2021 graduate of Northern Kentucky University's theatre program) as Juicy who's the production's plus-sized anchor. He's both strong and vulnerable, a "Momma's Boy" (it says so on his t-shirt) and a fierce friend to disgruntled Opal. As Juicy, he can stop the action to share his thoughts and insights in asides and monologues spoken directly to the audience, sometimes dropping real language directly from Shakespeare's play. Juicy is the play's driving force, and Jackson totally inhabits the role.

Singular credit is also due to director Benjamin, who has inspired his Fat Ham cast to manage the important balance between comedy and drama that make this 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning script such an unusual theatrical offering. Benjamin, also an inventive choreographer and using a cast that's as impressively physical as it is verbal, keeps everything spinning toward a happy ending. It's not what traditional Shakespeare fans might expect from a show inspired by Hamlet, but I'm pretty sure this production of Fat Ham is one they'll embrace and recall for a long time.

Fat Ham runs through September 22, 2024, at Cincinnati Shakespeare company, 1195 Elm Street, Cincinnati OH. For tickets and information, please visit cincyshakes.com or call 513-381-2273.