A review of Sh!t-faced Shakespeare®: Hamlet

Almost everyone I know goes to Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare at some point during the Edinburgh Fringe. It’s a solid Fringe tradition, or an old charter, or something… and although this year’s show is Hamlet, I’ll preface by saying that no performance is ever quite the same.

Vibe

Just like last year, the venue is the McEwan Hall, and it’s already pretty full when I get there. There was under 10 minutes until the performance, and no-one had grabbed their ‘sirloin seat’, so I took it with confidence. Not a bad view! I was later joined by a gent who had the same idea.

In true Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare style, the format is as follows: We have a few classically trained Shakespearean actors on stage performing a cut-down version of Hamlet – but one of them is very drunk. Typically this leads to much shenanigans and hilarity. We’re also told the rules – including extras like making sure the actor stays drunk with the genius mechanisms of a gong and a party popper, and what to do with ‘the bucket’ should it be required.

Performance

For this performance, it was the Queen’s turn to be drunk in Hamlet. We were shown how much they’d had to drink, and the performance starts. They don’t announce who’s drunk (they never do) but it’s quite obvious when they actors come out which one it is. This gets a few giggles with some pretty vigorous hijinks right off the bat.

This is not like any Hamlet you’ve known. In fact, this particular performance of Hamlet goes so far off-piste, with scatting and jazz, that it’s fair to say it’s a totally unique, one-off art piece. However, it’s also so far removed from Hamlet (with the host having to often remind the actors to at least try to say one line off the script) that actually, it no longer feels that funny or that Hamlet.

In the end, I think it was Laertes and Horatio who ended up on the thrones! Gertrude and Hamlet run away. Normally this isn’t a problem for me – I mean, I was all for it when Helena and Lysander ran off to start a feminist colony at last year’s Midsummer Night’s Dream (five stars). It’s not the reason I’m marking the show down this year.

I’m afraid this performance was a bit of a miss for me, and I could tell from small groups of the audience leaving at various times in the show, that it wasn’t really for them, either. I was a bit disappointed, because usually Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare feels like a chaotic, silly and riotous joy to watch, with a lot of belly laughs, so I’m going to chalk it up to a bad night.

Overall

I’m afraid Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare: Hamlet was a bit of a miss for me, however please take note that every single performance will be different – it’s chaotic, unpredictable fun and usually it’s an hour well spent. I think this one just missed the mark for me and I didn’t laugh anywhere near as much as I’d usually expect to.

Although it’s still got that chaotic, unpredictable energy, and it’s entertaining with classically trained Shakespearean actors – one of them drunk – doing their thing with the famous words of William Shakespeare, it didn’t do it for me. But, I think on a different night, I’d still recommend.