The Script Society Reads “Fat Ham” by James Ijames

James Ijames's Pulitzer Prize-winning reinvention of Hamlet is the text for this play-reading session at Bookstore1Sarasota. The Script Society assigns roles to attendees to read Fat Ham out loud, exploring how the playwright transplants Shakespeare's tragedy to a modern Southern family barbecue. The plot follows Juicy, a queer college kid who is visited by the ghost of his father and ordered to seek revenge, but who ultimately refuses to perpetuate a cycle of generational trauma. The collaborative reading allows participants to dissect the play’s sharp comedic dialogue and its subversion of classic theatrical fatalism.