Writer: William Shakespeare(ish)
Sh!tfaced Shakespeare have been entertaining audiences for more than a decade now, and show little sign of abating. They have a product that’s tremendously popular: so much so, it’s gone transatlantic.
The concept is simple. A cast of five perform an abridged version of a Shakespeare classic (on this occasion, Romeo and Juliet) with one of the cast being selected to start drinking four hours before the show starts. The result is a raucous and ridiculous show guaranteed to shock and surprise.
On this occasion it is Juliet who pulls the short straw, although it does take a while for the audience to notice as most of the cast are playing up to such an extent any one of them could be inebriated. It even leads to one audience member heckling “who’s the drunk one?”. Soon enough though it is clear, and a few more drinks and two hours later we reach the crescendo, which, like much of the show, offers up yet another surprise.
For a ‘purist’ this is a hammy pantomime played just for laughs, with a considered formula running through it, which does make it a little predictable. However, that’s not the target audience. The audience for this show is one that just wants to let off a little steam, be entertained, and to laugh – and on each count did just what it was supposed to.
One does wonder how much of the improvisation is due to alcohol and how much is due to the cast being given license to play, but that’s not the point. The point is that one character has license to go a little off-piste, and the rest of the cast have to cope with it, and it’s that, which is the selling point. The fact that one character happens to be drinking during is just the mechanism which allows it all to happen.
One could in fact make the argument that the interactive way Sh!tfaced do Shakespeare is in fact a more authentic Elizabethan experience than many you’ll see, and if the goal is to entertain, then they achieve it consistently and that ought to be commended.
Runs until 10 September 2022
The Reviews Hub Score
Raucous and ridiculous
Call me one of those purists, but I could never get around to watching this show because the exclamation point in Sh!tfaced always bothered me a little too much. But it’s hard not to admire the actors for what they do. That much improv can’t be easy.