Writer: William Shakespeare
Director: Stacey Norris
All the world’s a stage and the men and woman merely players… and sometimes they are seven beers and a quarter of a bottle of gin in and desperately trying to remember the lines.
Welcome to Sh!tfaced Shakespeare, where each night six classically trained Shakespearian actors are compered through an abridged version of a classic play, except one of them has spent four hours getting absolutely wasted before being pushed out on stage to recite The Bard. Fresh on the heels of an Edinburgh Fringe run of Romeo and Juliet, the Sh!tfaced crew are touring the country with their version of Much Ado About Nothing. This time they’ve been allowed a two-act structure, so anyone used to their 45 minute Fringe sets is in for double the fun, and the actor unfortunately enough to be on the chopping block that night is in for double the shots.
It’s a recipe for chaos, Shakespeare written by Jack Daniels, and oh how the audience love it.
The drunken actor changes every night (no one wants to do that much damage to their liver) and for this show it was Chris Lane’s turn. His Claudio was transformed from competent, passionate soldier into a mumbling, stumbling mess, gradually descending into catty and acerbic over the two hour run time, especially after the four extra drinks forced on him throughout. His ability to throw out witty one liners while in his cups initially caused scepticism over if there was actually quite as much real drunkenness as promised by Compere Flora Sowerby, but by the end it was hard to doubt he’d be spending tomorrow with his head in a bucket. Still, it was quite impressive how many of the actual lines he did (eventually) remember. Watching him was like watching a particularly chaotic rehearsal, which, as all actors know, is where the fun stuff really happens.
Of course, no one in the audience is actually expecting to see well a performed Much Ado. The more improvisation on the stage the happier they are (although if future audience members could remember that it isn’t a panto, and there’s no need to join in unless invited, that would be lovely). The joy of a Sh!tfaced show is in seeing the sober actors cope with the increasing number of curveballs thrown their way. The remaining actors were wonderful at this, especially Charlie Keable as Don Jon and Stacey Norris as Leonata, who flowed with the pandemonium in a perfect epitome of the ‘Yes And’ game played in every improv class, with Norris’ innuendos (and outright unfiltered references) receiving some especially loud laugher. Holly Durkin’s Hero was beautifully wide eyed while being wickedly funny, Jamie Sandersfield’s Benedick a lovely mix of sarcastic and sympathetic, and if that’s Julia Bird playing Beatrice while sober the audiences who see her drunk are going to have an excellently raucous time (listen out for her scene changes). And, somehow, this drunken cavalcade manged to pull off a performance of Much Ado About Nothing that could be understood and genuinely enjoyed by both people who knew the plot and those like your reviewer who went in blind. Amazing!
There could be an argument made that the conceit of Sh!tface Shakespeare lends itself better to the one-act structure of the Fringe shows, as sometimes the scenes did seem to risk going on longer than might have stayed funny, although Sowerby did an excellent job at wrangling the action if this started to happen (and seeing her genuinely looking after Lane in his drunken state was as reassuring as it was heart warming). These shows are not for traditionalists, or anyone easily offended by some swearwords and lewdness – the cast certainly put the Bard back into bawdy. But where else are you going to hear such wonderful nonsense as “S**t I forgot to do the accent because I’m from Oldham”, “I believe it’s a Haribo my lord” and “You look like Elmo with that mask on yer head”? After centuries of declamatory acting and half baked reimaginings, Shakespeare after an ill-advised amount of booze is a stale, beer smelling breath of fresh air. Cheers!
Reviewed on 5 October 2023, touring until 28 October 2023
The Reviews Hub Score
Bawdy brilliance
