Fringe review: Sh!t-faced Shakespeare – Macbeth
It’s Macbeth like you’ve never seen it before – intoxicated. Sh!t-faced Shakespeare has found a winning formula to make the Bard’s most famous works much more… entertaining. No offence, William. ★★★★
As explained by the energetic and comedic compere, a small cast of mostly sober, classically trained actors puts on Macbeth in a mostly traditional way in this show. The shocking twist? One of the actors is absolutely shit-faced. Excuse my French.
At Saturday’s performance, the sole female in the cast was the chosen one – and for cynics out there (this reviewer included), the compere not only shows us the empty bottles which were consumed pre-show, but in a fun bit of audience interaction, two front-rowers can intervene when they think the drunkard needs to be more drunk.
Macbeth on this particular night featured twerking, slut drops, sex jokes, fourth-wall-breaking dog interaction, and only semi-related singing.
The Sh!t-faced Shakespeare listing in the Fringe program promises “no two shows are ever the same” due to each performance featuring a different “genuinely inebriated cast member”. The drunk actor’s jokes were so effortlessly incorporated into the show that it’s hard to believe they weren’t pre-planned, but perhaps they truly are all just that good at improv. Either way, every joke and new addition just made Macbeth more entertaining (again, so sorry William).
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It would be interesting to see the show again to see just how different it is, and also what happens when one of the male cast members takes on the role of the drunkard. While the sex jokes on this night were funny, some of them would become less so if relied on as part of the regular formula rather than unrehearsed.
If you want to see Shakespeare how it was intended, then look the other way. But if you’re after a great night out with your (over 18) friends and/or family, then this is raucous and entertaining comedy.
Sh!t-faced Shakespeare – Macbeth is on in The Roundhouse at the Garden of Unearthly Delights until March 17.
Read more 2024 Adelaide Fringe coverage here on InReview.