Sh!tfaced Shakespeare. Yes, you read that correctly.
It’s Shakespeare, but one of the actors gets really drunk before and during the show. If you have an aversion to drinking or disapprove of people drinking too much, this is not the show for you. However, if you enjoy watching someone falling about on stage, a lot of hilarious improv, and basically if you fancy an all-year-round alcohol-fuelled semi-improvised Shakespearean pantomime, well then you’ve come to the right place!
Established fourteen years ago, and in their eighth year of residency at London’s Leicester Square Theatre, they’ve performed all over the world with this unique and very entertaining concept. On this fine summer evening, and throughout the current run until September 7th, the play was to be one of Shakespeare’s most well-known comedies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Now I say ‘comedies’, but in my experience Shakespeare’s comedies are never particularly funny. They have their moments, of course, but never really ‘laugh-out-loud, clutching-your-sides’, funny. All this was about to change.
As the curtain went up, one of the actors introduced herself as Steph The MC (Stephanie Simpson). Steph’s job, she explained, is to make sure that the ‘drunk’ is safe, and also that they don’t get too sober. She then showed us how much the ‘drunk’ had had to drink before the show – one bottle of prosecco and three cans of cider over a few hours. Two audience members were given a noise-making instrument and told to make noise if the drunk was too sober at any point, at which point Steph will give them another drink.
Then the play started. It was all very civilised for a couple of mins, with Hermia, Theseus, Lysander, and Demetrius all getting into it about Hermia having to marry Demetrius etc. etc. All very civilised, until the words “Enter Helena” appear in the script. Helena entered, and Helena was stifling a giggle and very wobbly on her feet. The ‘drunk’ had arrived! Our drunk for the evening was Princess Donnough and we later learned that this was Princess’s first time as ‘the drunk’. She took to the role as if she had been preparing for this for years. All those nights out with her mates, which she probably had thought were just fun times, were all leading up to her drunken stage debut! Princess came on and immediately starting improvising. If any of you have acted on stage, imagine coming on completely pissed and knowing that you have full licence to just f*ck about. She was trying to change plotlines, undermining kings and gods alike, regularly telling Steph how much she loves her, and occasionally – very occasionally – she would suddenly stop, as if she’d just remembered something important, and say one of her lines from the play. The rest of the company were also having fun, improvising along with Princess, but at the same time keeping the plot moving forwards and performing their very abridged version of the play. Princess was not the only one diverting from the original Shakespeare either, with Oberon and Puck choosing a male volunteer from the audience to play Titania. They kept coming back to him throughout the show, even getting him up for a scene, to great comedic effect.
Keeping the ‘drunk’ on track, getting her to enter or leave the stage at the right time, and reminding her that “no, no, no, we don’t say the c word”, occupied a fair bit of time for Steph and the other cast members, but it was all riotously funny. Princess was not a rowdy drunk, she was the kind of drunk that everybody loves hanging out with, the life of the party. Yes, that’s hit the nail on the head – she was the life of the party. She was making jokes, telling people she loved them (both in and out of character), suddenly remembering that she had a character voice for her second character and then doing a very weird voice indeed!
Shakespeare often featured a comedy drunk in his plays, from the porter in Macbeth to the most famous comic drunk – Sir John Falstaff, so the idea that a drunk person can be amusing is nothing new and I even think good old Willy himself would approve of the hilarious, ridiculous, and yet somewhat genius concept that Sh!tfaced Shakespeare have created.
If you’re worried about Princess’s health, you needn’t be, as the cast of 10 rotate who is drinking each night so that everyone gets a turn, and plenty of recovery time. Also, despite the audience shouting ‘down it’, and Princess being more than willing to, in her inebriated state, Steph stopped her from doing it, as I believe that would have crossed a line that they are very careful to tread on the correct side of.
I spoke to quite a few fellow audience members, and almost everyone I spoke to was there for their third or fourth visit to see Sh!tfaced. When I told a friend I was going, he said “oh it’s fab, I’ve been twice”. So I think that really says it all.
If you want to see something hilarious, original, and so amusing, get yourself along to see Sh!tfaced Shakespeare at the Leicester Square theatre until 7th September. If you’re not close to London, fear not – they will be on tour from the 26th Sept, travelling the length and breadth of the country, leaving a trail of drunken merriment in their wake.
To book tickets visit www.shitfacedshows.com
Words by Nick Barr
