Call it fate or divine intervention but some things are just meant to be: I missed Fat Ham in NY and would’ve missed it in LA if not for the addition of a few more shows. Similarly, this play is about destiny. Admittedly, most of what I know about the Shakespearean source material comes from a close watch of Disney’s The Lion King. Imagine Simba as the heir to a BBQ dynasty in a small town in North Carolina who’s actively questioning his loner tendencies, sexuality, and relationship with his dead father and you have Fat Ham’s main character: Juicy. Sprinkle and season with perfectly-placed trap doors, lethal family secrets, and a paradigm-shifting VR experience and the show hits on a level of depth that most Hamlet retellings can’t quite reach. Fighting who you are will end (predictably) with exhaustion, melancholy, envy, and self-hate but embracing your true self is sure to culminate in a glitter-speckled disco (or at least the metaphorical equivalent). To that end, life is like barbecue sauce. We need both the grapes and their resulting vinegar to grant each of us our undeniable tang. Don’t fight your flavor.

This is the last weekend to see Fat Ham at Geffen Playhouse in LA. The play is written by James Ijames and directed by Saheem Ali.