Man down

          Walking into school on Wednesday, I wasn't exactly psyched to be watching a reinvented version of a  Shakespearean play. Last year, having watched Clyde's, a modern play, I found joy in reading and watching stories/plays that did NOT have a hidden message every other line (like Hamlet and The Great Gatsby). And while Clyde's had significantly heavier topics than I had imagined as it followed the journey of the incarcerated after serving their time, it was more simple to digest and understand as it had an overarching theme that was self-explanatory. 


   

 On the other hand, I assumed Fat Ham would either need continuous decoding of the many hidden messages and hints that Hamlet had, or would be too difficult to enjoy and understand. So consider me surprised with the opening scene which is something I never would've expected. The opening scene to me was a small introduction to something I've noticed all throughout: a challenge to toxic masculinity. All of us have experienced the aftermath of the harmful societal expectations put on gender roles and this play so obviously served to counter that.

          This overarching theme in Fat Ham made me leave the theater realizing that the play was ultimately about radically choosing joy, committing to yourself, and deciding to thrive. The idea of "manliness" perpetuating dominance is nothing but a social expectation that has been reflected on all of us. I truly believe that at the core, the message of Fat Ham is deeper than I realized, but from what I do realize, it is that we should "stop accepting what has always been" (Tio), and that there is always room for change, but more than that, it is accepting who you are inside.

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