Fringe hit HAM brings its butchered Hamlet to Soho Theatre
One of the most talked-about shows of this year's Edinburgh Fringe is heading south: HAM, Hotter Project's vegan rewrite of Hamlet, plays Soho Theatre from 29 September to 31 October.
Speakerphone Productions and Soho Theatre have announced a London run for HAM, the show by Hotter Project that spent August collecting some of the Edinburgh Fringe's warmest notices. It opens at Soho Theatre on 29 September and runs to 31 October, with a press performance on Friday 2 October. Tickets are on sale now.
The premise is exactly as odd as it sounds. A vegan, undone by grief at the death of a pig, sets out to avenge it: he broods at length, he holds his mother responsible, and he settles at last on staging a play. What follows is a deliberately filthy raid on Shakespeare, turning the tragedy into a scrap between a vegan and a devoted sausage-eater, and asking its audience a version of the famous question — to eat, or not to eat.
Critics took to it. The Telegraph's Dominic Cavendish called the show “the find of the festival” and The Herald's Evie Glen billed it as “the five star show that could turn you vegan”, both awarding five stars, with four-star reviews following from The Guardian, WhatsOnStage and The Stage. Time Out summed up the contradiction at its heart: “a dumb Hamlet parody, a clever Hamlet parody, a show about how useless eco theatre is that is also an effective piece of eco theatre.” It also took a Gold Edinburgh Festival Fringe Award.
Mary Higgins and Ell Potter, who founded Hotter Project, said: “We couldn't be more excited to bring our weird and meaty baby to Soho Theatre. We hope audiences love our butchered Hamlet and leave the show feeling horny, harrowed, and debating whether to eat or not to eat.”
The pair have been Fringe regulars since HOTTER in 2017, which sold out three runs and went on tour, and their subsequent shows FITTER and The Last Show Before We Die have played Soho Theatre, the Yard and Bristol Old Vic. Away from the stage they write and perform audio work, including the British Podcast Awards-winning Lem n Ginge: The Princess of Kakos. This summer they also appeared in Shedinburgh's season with a one-off retrospective, An Evening with Hotter Project.
HAM is directed by Ursula Martinez, the performer-turned-director whose recent credits include Sh!t Theatre's Evita Too and all of Lucy McCormick's shows, and whose co-production of Casting Lear with Andrea Jimenez won a Premio Max for Best Show last year. Set and costume design is by Rūta Irbīte, lighting by David Doyle, sound by Tom Foskett-Barnes and movement by Abbi Greenland.
Speakerphone Productions, founded by Sophie Visscher-Lubinizki and Zoe Novello, has had a busy year: its musical comedy Under the Influence transfers to the King's Head Theatre next month after its own Fringe run.
HAM plays Soho Theatre Upstairs, 21 Dean Street, W1D 3NE, from 29 September to 31 October 2026 at 6.45pm. Tickets are £15, the running time is 60 minutes, and the show is for ages 18 and over.