Currently in previews at The Public Theater, Marcel Spears stars as Juicy in James Ijames鈥� 2022 Pulitzer-winning play Fat Ham. Ijames explodes Shakespeare鈥檚 psychological classic Hamlet into a drama at times comic, at others tragic. Rather than a wedding feast in Denmark, the play takes place at a cookout in the modern-day South. Juicy, a queer college kid, grapples with similar struggles as Shakespeare鈥檚 title character: identity questions, the ghost of his father, and a supernatural demand for vengeance. He also faces the choice of whether to perpetuate or end the cycles of violence and trauma he has inherited. The Public Theater and National Black Theatre co-production officially opens May 26 and runs through June 12.
Spears sat down with 半岛体育 to talk about the show, what it means to him as an actor, and how Fat Ham invites Black actors and audiences into Shakespeare and the theatre.
How did you first encounter Fat Ham?
Marcel Spears: It鈥檚 so funny, because the show is so much more than the logline. My agent first brought it to me, and because I was classically trained at Columbia, he knows that Shakespeare is my homeboy. He goes, 鈥楾here鈥檚 this play, Marcel. It鈥檚 based on Hamlet; it鈥檚 sort of a remix that unpacks it through a new lens鈥t鈥檚 set at a family cookout in the South.鈥� I went, 鈥極ut in the South?鈥� and he was like, 鈥榊eah, a Black family.鈥� Then I said, 鈥榃ait a minute鈥kay.鈥�
What about the play caught your attention?
I was excited to read it. When I dug into the play, obviously the parallels between Fat Ham and Hamlet are very clear and beautifully, creatively layered into this play. But, I saw so much of myself, my family, and people that I know, being a Southern Black man myself. After talking to James, seeing the parallels between my family and his, and unpacking those themes, I couldn鈥檛 put it down. I read it a million times.
Are you enjoying the familiarity of the characters or the challenges of the role more?
It's both. I think, as an artist, it鈥檚 so layered and it鈥檚 never exactly what you see on paper. The play is a comedy, until it鈥檚 not. It鈥檚 a tragedy, until it isn鈥檛 anymore. Playing Juicy, the journey mirrors Hamlet鈥檚, but it鈥檚 so specific and it really is a workout. It鈥檚 an actor鈥檚 playground in such a fun way, and I haven鈥檛 gotten the chance to play a character like that in a long time. Getting to know Juicy, finding my interpretation of that character, working with what James has given us with the raw materials of this play has been really amazing.
As a human being, I always enjoy Shakespeare. But as a young Black person, I didn鈥檛 always see myself reflected in it, and if I鈥檓 being completely transparent, sometimes it would feel like I wasn鈥檛 necessarily invited to. The way I articulate myself, the way I grew up talking, you don鈥檛 really see that in staunch, classic, Shakespearean trained actors. It wasn鈥檛 until I went to college at Prairie View A&M University, which is an HBCU, that I learned Shakespeare from Black actors who were like, 鈥楴o. This story is universal. These feelings like pain, grief, joy, all of these things are universal. You are welcome here; you can find yourself in it.鈥�
Getting to do that, going on that journey as an actor, has been really beautiful and a full circle moment. Now, not only is Fat Ham universal like Hamlet, but I literally see myself reflected in it. I can see people that look like me, sound like me. The texture of these characters, they feel so familiar to me, and that is really validating.
With Ijames taking Hamlet to a wholly new place, do you think audiences will be surprised by the direction the play takes?
They鈥檙e going to be utterly aghast, they鈥檙e going to be completely taken on a ride. I think what James does so beautifully is he honors the source material, but in adding the lenses of Blackness and queerness, he allows us to live in a different space, to take turns and make choices that I think would definitely surprise the audience. I think there鈥檚 a lot of service to the theatre and Shakespeare nerds, but there鈥檚 so many surprises. Even Opal, played by Adrianna Mitchell, is a version of Ophelia that is unlike any Ophelia I鈥檝e ever seen. I think James made that choice intentionally, because the women in his life who would have been a kind of Ophelia just didn鈥檛 operate the way that we鈥檝e seen Ophelia operate before. The way of feeling and navigating the world as a Black woman and the experiences that she鈥檚 lived are different. I think James makes consciously different choices with all of the characters like that. It honors the source, but still tells a very different story that I think everybody can appreciate.
What are your hopes for this production?
As storytellers, we give the larger public an opportunity to see themselves and take a look at themselves in a way they didn鈥檛 think about before. It allows people the space to be heard where they might not normally, and gives us a safe space to talk about certain things. When I鈥檓 taking on the role of Juicy, I understand it鈥檚 not just me there. That character represents so much, and gives voice to a community that is often othered, or marginalized, in a really heavy way in the country and the world. I want Juicy鈥檚 story to be heard, and I feel like if it can allow someone to see themselves in a way that encourages them鈥攙alidates their life and experience鈥擨 think that鈥檚 a beautiful thing. Outside of that, I think this play is just a lot of fun, being so Black. It really gives the audience an opportunity to be invited to a cookout, and this is the most outlandish, insane cookout anyone could go to. I think that freedom and reckless abandon James writes with at times, and the way that he allows these characters to spill out into each other and all over the place, is really fun to watch.
Any advice for audiences coming to see the show?
One thing I would say, Black people have a culture of call and response. By that, I mean we typically talk at these kinds of events, and I think the culture of theatre oftentimes is so far removed from that. You sit and watch in silence, but this is definitely a play that shakes you to your core and invites you to engage with it. I encourage audiences coming to see the play to laugh out loud, cry, nod your head, give me some of those 鈥渕hmms,鈥� and 鈥渦huhs,鈥� and 鈥渁mens.鈥� Bring your friend who doesn鈥檛 go to the theatre, bring your friends who might not feel seen in the theatre. Bring your Black friends to this play, bring your mom, bring your church members. This play is for them; it鈥檚 for the community.
