Chances are, there’ve been some who’d prefer to be drunk while sitting through a full-length stage version of any of the Bard’s plays, simply to make the experience more bearable. Well, Sh!t-faced Shakespeare is the next best thing for those who find the plays far too earnest and nowhere near funny enough. This defiantly low-brow show is something of a tradition on the comedy circuit, having sold out its runs in Edinburgh Fringe in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023. It’s recently finished a stint at Adelaide Fringe. So, why so successful?
Well the premise is simple but ingenious: four hours before the show one of the team members gets well and truly “shitfaced”, on a range of alcoholic beverages. The remaining four play it straight as the troupe brazen through a condensed version of Macbeth.
So, while one expects every night’s performance of Sh!t-faced Shakespeare to be different, some things will be predictable: expect chaos, non sequiturs, pratfalls and improv aplenty as the script of Macbeth is butchered.
Read: Opera review: West Side Story, Sydney Harbour
It’s a licence for hammy acting and, while the other sober actors do their best to keep the momentum going til the end, their drunken colleague – who ‘plays’ multiple roles – is there simply to derail the play. Cue groans amid the laughter. Some gags do better than others, but the whole thing is joyfully irreverent and made especially for those who would rather down pints at the pub than subject themselves to po-faced renditions of Shakespeare.
Tickets: $35-$46.90
Sh!t-faced Shakespeare will be performing at Athenaeum Theatre until 21 April 2024 on behalf of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF 2024).
