Tag Archives: Richard Hughes

Shit-Faced Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet

★★★★

Leicester Square Theatre

Sh*t-Faced Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet

Leicester Square Theatre

Reviewed – 14th July 2022

★★★★

 

“They know their business, and they know their audiences, well”

 

If you saunter along to the Leicester Square Theatre expecting traditional Shakespeare, you are in for a rude—a very rude—surprise. This ain’t your father’s Shakespeare. Oddly enough it is the kind of Shakespeare the Bard himself might enjoy. Enjoy—if he’d gone on a mad pub crawl beforehand, and decided to stop by the theatre to see the latest production of Romeo and Juliet. If well fortified beforehand, he’d enjoy the show—and probably not notice how the cast have changed the ending. And quite a few other things. But then, good times, fuelled with lots of alcohol, are what Sh*t-faced Shakespeare are all about. They know their business, and they know their audiences, well.

Sh*t-faced Shakespeare’s brand of Shakespeare (touring since 2010) “seeks to introduce a new generation of theatregoers to the works of the Bard by reviving the raucous, interactive and vibrant nature of Elizabethan theatre with a very modern twist.” This is one of the most accurate descriptions of a show I’ve ever seen in press materials put out by a company, and they win my admiration for that. It’s great to see such a young crowd turn out for Shakespeare in a comedy club setting. Veterans of the Sh*t-faced approach will know in advance the set up. To summarize: one of the company comes on stage as MC to announce that another member of the company has been chosen to be the drunk for the evening’s performance. Drinking heavily for several hours before the show, this performer will also be expected to drink more every time a bell or gong is struck by a member of audience. While performing Shakespeare.

On this particular evening, it was Juliet’s turn to take one for the team. But there’s not just drinking and slapstick involved here. There’s audience participation that involves acting as well. Short of a County Paris for this performance of Romeo and Juliet, a good sport sporting a “Slayer” tee shirt was selected to play the part of Juliet’s father-approved fiancé. Very appropriate. Out of this formula the cast of Sh*t-faced Shakespeare proceeds to build an entertainment that pays no attention to the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. They just focus on the comedy instead. You didn’t know Romeo and Juliet was a comedy?

Seriously, kudos to the cast. David Ellis, Louise Lee, Jessica Brindle, Richard Hughes, Christopher Lane, John Mitton, Lucy Farrar and Stacey Norris are all seasoned soldiers of the Sh*t-faced scene, which includes knowing just how badly to mess up the best known speeches while maintaining eye contact with the audience most of the time. Amazingly enough, no one got hurt as the evening (and the drinking) progressed. These actors are tough, and experienced. It’s also impossible to know whether they have been drinking, which speaks well of their classical training. The programme reassuringly points out that company members are never expected to drink on consecutive nights, or more than four times a month. They consider themselves to be more temperate drinkers than the average West End actor.

In short, if you feel your friends need a bit more culture, and fewer nights at the pub, take them to a Sh*t-faced Shakespeare show. They will have a good time, and might not even notice that they are no longer at their local. And rest assured that the “real” Shakespeare’s reputation will survive, despite the “rough magic” dealt out by Sh*t-faced Shakespeare.

 

Reviewed by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Rah Petherbridge

 


Shit-Faced Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet

Leicester Square Theatre

 

Previous Shit-Faced shows at this venue:
Sh!t-Faced Macbeth | ★★★★★ | July 2021
A Pissedmas Carol | ★★★★★ | December 2021

 

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Sh!t-faced Shakespeare: Hamlet
★★★

Leicester Square Theatre

Sh!t-faced Shakespeare: Hamlet

Sh!t-faced Shakespeare: Hamlet

Leicester Square Theatre

Reviewed – 21st June 2019

★★★

 

“Whilst it didn’t have my sides splitting, it’s still a fun way to spend an evening”

 

The idea is this: you take five classically trained actors, spend weeks and weeks rehearsing a Shakespeare play, then, come showtime, for every performance one cast member gets ten out of ten drunk- or at least a solid seven and a half- and hilarity ensues.

Our drunk for the evening is David Ellis, playing Hamlet, and I can confirm he was definitely drunk – a point of contention in previous reviews. The script often seems to get in the way of his good time and he gets in to a rhythm of reciting his very wordy monologues double-time so he can get to the fun bit: licking his co-actors and throwing stuff at the audience.

The compere, Beth-Louise Priestley, spends much of the show ushering Ellis on and off stage, ensuring he’s polite to the rest of the cast and doesn’t throw anything too heavy at the audience (he does accidentally lob a book but I’ve been assured no audience members were hurt during this production). She is clearly genuinely enthused but I suppose owing to the fact that Sh!t-Faced has been running as long as it has, some of her lines feel a little over-rehearsed and sometimes she struggles to inject the necessary spontaneity in to her delivery.

Magnificent Bastard Productions has been running Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare now for a good few years. I imagine they kept coming up against the fact that the success or failure of the night is very much dependent on whether the drunk is a funny drunk. Otherwise you’ve got an inexplicably abridged Shakespeare play with one person who can’t remember their lines and just wants to take a nap. Not super fun. So, their solution is to make the whole script a bit silly; give the sober actors a chance to crack a joke or two. Unfortunately, this means there’s much less room for genuine improv and you can’t tell if the drunkard is cracking their own joke or reciting the script. You would think that the point of it being Shakespeare is that it’s traditionally very serious and stuffy, and adding a drunk person gives a good dose of giddy unpredictability. But if the script is already farcical, it comes off a bit like a touring school production – a way for the kids to get excited about an old play.

It feels a little formulaic but I suppose that’s to be expected when what started as a raucous fringe production moves to a West End theatre. That said, the cast still seem to be having a great time and they are obviously genuinely fond of each other which makes all the difference with improv.

Whilst it didn’t have my sides splitting, it’s still a fun way to spend an evening. Make sure you’ve got a drink in hand, this is not ideal for a sober night out.

 

Reviewed by Miriam Sallon

Photography by Rah Petherbridge

 


Sh!t-faced Shakespeare: Hamlet

Leicester Square Theatre until 14th September

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:
Murder, She Didn’t Write | ★★★ | February 2018
Sh!t-faced Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice | ★★★★ | April 2018
Sh!t-faced Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet | ★★★★ | June 2018
Murder She Didn’t Write | ★★★★ | September 2018
Sh!t-faced Showtime: Oliver With a Twist! | ★★★ | September 2018
Stick Man | ★★★½ | October 2018
Sh!t-Faced Showtime: Oliver With A Twist | ★★ | March 2019
Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare: The Taming Of The Shrew | ★★★★★ | April 2019

 

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