Writer: William Shakespeare
Adapted by: The Company
Director: Stacey Norris
“Shut up Simba, I’m Jeremy Irons!”
The yearly mania that is the Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare visit to Huddersfield is here. Six actors, one technician, and a whole lot of booze. The premise is simple – an abridged performance of a beloved Shakespeare classic – Hamlet this year – performed to the best of the company’s ability, while dealing with one member who is categorically, completely, well, sh!tfaced. One of the actors (a different one each night to save everyone’s livers) starts drinking at 4pm, and by the time the curtain goes up at (around) 7:30pm, is completely symbelwlonc, as they say in Old English.
Your reviewer was lucky enough to catch regular cast member Charlie Keable in his cups while playing Hamlet villain Claudius, the uncle responsible for the title father’s untimely death. Often at a Sh!tfaced show it takes a little time before the drunk makes themselves known. This time, Keable reveals his hand from almost the second he steps on stage. And goodness, he has the audience on side immediately. Keable sober is a ball of chaos, Keable drunk is like watching early Eddie/Suzie Izzard, right down to the accent. Non-sequiturs abound, random impressions are liberally peppered in (including an absolutely spot on Stephen Graham), and the A to B story takes a detour around C,D, 7 and Brighouse before getting to the end. Keable must do stand up in his own right, he’d be a joy to watch through an entire set even solo.
But right now, he is somewhat ably managed and corralled by his cast mates. Master of Ceremonies Shady Murphy starts out a little too scripted and formulaic but warms up as she is called upon to chase Keable around the stage and keep the acting going via application of a thigh sounded horn. Fellow actors Julia Bird (Gertrude), Princess Donnough (Ophelia/Horatio, renamed Horatia) Aaron Peters (Laertes/Kings Ghost), and Jamie Sandersfield (Hamlet) all do their very best to keep going, although spend most of the show Yes And-ing their drunken Claudius, to the point where not much actual Shakespeare gets performed. And Technician Sam Roberts does his best to keep the atmosphere up with lighting, sound and haze (and absolutely nails an improvised spotlight to pinpoint an audience member’s perhaps equally drunken shout out). The adaptation is a little confusing, as can be expected when trying to cut down Shakespeare’s wordiest tragedy, and there does seem to be a lot of just improvising or summarising the text even from the sober actors, which is slightly less effective than previous Sh!tfaced shows which feel to have contained more of the source material. However, no one is really here for the story, except maybe the two gentlemen behind your reviewer in the Interval drinks queue, who seemed baffled and offended by the very concept, and clearly did not do their research before buying tickets…
For everyone else, Sh!tfaced Shakespeare’s Hamlet lives up to all expectations – a bawdy, messy, side splittingly hilarious whip through a usually long, boring and depressing play. It is to be sure that Shakespeare himself would approve and probably pull out an IPA as well.
Reviewed on 2 October 2025
