Ham
Soho Theatre
Playing until 31st October 2026
Photo credit: Jonny Ruff
{PR Gifted ticket}
A story told vaguely within the parameters of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ham follow’s Hamlet (Ell Potter)’s slow descent to madness as he becomes disgusted by the treatment of livestocks, becomes a vegan and attempts to confront his own mother Gertrude (Mary Higgins) to see the cruelty of animal farming and the impact it has on the environment.
Told over five short acts, Hamlet opens the show by displaying his utter disgust of a packet of wafer-thin ham, setting the story in motion as he confronts the practices in modern day animal farming through a series of projected recorded footage shot from within slaughterhouses and statistics. Rather than exacting revenge on his uncle for the murder of his father by staging a play within a play like in the original, Ham stages a fringe show within a fringe show in order to guilt trip Gertrude into confronting the harsh realities of eating meat.
Delivered through exaggerated characters under the direction of Ursula Martinez, Ham turns a tragic Shakespeare tale into a tummy-ache inducing comedy, it is simultaneously absurd and genius. The vegan and meat-eating characters are played by two actors with the same diet, enabling them to bring their genuine self to stage and confront the conflict both on and off-stage. Higgins openly admits that she is called a sausage queen by her own father and even has a plate of full English breakfast tattooed onto her thigh. By having a character and an actor that isn’t converted into veganism makes it more real and relatable without undermining the overarching message.
Though much of this show is very much pinned on the benefits of veganism on animal welfare, climate change is also heavily featured. In fact, when a meat-eater audience is invited onto the stage, they consent into a sub/dom role play as they are disciplined by mother nature and forced into admitting how disgusting it is to eat meat. In a way, the actors lay it all to bare for the audience to see (both figuratively and literally) as they strip down to complete nakedness, as the farm animals would be, creating significant visual impact without reliance on intricate costumes or staging.
While I don’t know how many people are converted into vegetarianism or veganism by this show, it definitely made me think how I could reduce my meat consumption, whether for the sake of the animals or for the planet.
Creatives
Creators: Hotter Project
Director: Ursula Martinez
Set and Costume Design: Rūta Irbīte
Lighting Design: David Doyle
Sound Design: Tom Foskett-Barnes
Movement: Abbi Greenland
Producers for Speakerphone Productions: Zoe Novello and Sophie Visscher Lubinizki
Comments