Shit-Faced Shakespeare review: a hilarious, unpredictable and booze-fuelled remix of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
In Shit-Faced Shakespeare, five actors attempt to rattle through a condensed version of the bard’s pixie-fuelled sex comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Each night however, one member of the cast gets catastrophically pissed before curtain call, drinking their way through a trolley of booze as showtime approaches.
Audience members are armed with a gong and a horn, which they’re to honk and bang if they feel the actor isn’t quite smashed enough for their tastes. A third audience member, sitting in the front row, gets to hold a bucket. What happens after that is as tough to predict as it is hilarious: a mixture of acting up, genuine boozed-up madness and improvised, ramshackle Shakespeare.
You can quickly tell who’s been at the liquor cabinet: just look for the character whose costume starts to dismantle itself during the opening dance. Later, look for whoever’s crawling around on the floor barking half-remembered lines from other Shakespeare plays and shouting at the bushes.
In our performance, it was Helena who was three sheets to the wind, sloshing about the stage with an increasing wobbliness that eventually prompted the MC to move the more sharply edged bits of scenery out of her way. Noble attempts to stick to the script were abandoned in favour of swearing at an unconscious Lysander in a broad scouse accent, fondly stroking Demetrius whenever she could get near enough and wrestling with the flapping sleeves of her dress.
There’s a blurred line between stupid drunk and funny drunk, and the inebriated cast of Shit-Faced Shakespeare have enough improv grit to steer the show towards the latter. With the exception of one confusing third-act descent into nonsense (which if anything served to prove exactly how shit-faced Helena was) it’s a brilliantly funny show, and refreshingly irreverent amidst 2016’s unfettered Willy-worship.
Leicester Square Theatre | ★★★★☆