Birdy made it along to McEwan Hall for a (shortened) performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in classic Sh!t-faced Shakespeare style!
If you haven’t heard of Sh!t-faced Shakespeare yet, or made it along to one of their shows, you might not necessarily know that it’s always a riotous time (but I do, I’ve been going along for years) – with no two shows ever quite the same.
Vibe
The fabulous McEwan Hall was pretty packed when I entered, but as a single lady I managed to find a single untaken seat in not too bad a location! The stage was set, and the vibe was immediately set (as all Sh!t-faced shows start) with the host coming on stage and explaining how it all works.
The format is that we have a few classically trained Shakespearean actors on stage – but one of them is very drunk. This usually leads to much hijinks and hilarity. We’re told the rules – including extras like giving the already drunk actor another drink, and what to do with ‘the bucket’ should it be required.
The show itself
This was a very fun, shortened telling of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, featuring a very drunk Helena! Who broke the rules quite a few times by doing things like shouting ‘C*NT’, running too close to the end of the stage, and once running right into the audience. She was a tricksy drunk!
I really enjoyed various elements of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, including the use of IKEA snakes in the dream sequence – which I recognised because I’ve got my very own Sammy snake. One Sammy snake was later acquired by drunk Helena, who used it to bite another actor somewhere Sammy really shouldn’t have.
Helena argued that Sammy was harmless, and not guilty at all… and to think of him like Philip Schofield. The host chimed in at this point saying to change that to ANYONE BUT Schofield. Helena chose to compare Sammy to Jimmy Savile instead, which is irrefutably worse!
Anyway, I laughed a lot, and with all the forgetting of lines and going very off-track at points (“I’ll tell you all about pigeons”), it certainly didn’t end up like A Midsummer Night’s Dream that anyone would be that familiar with, with Helena and Lysander running off to start a feminist colony at the end!
Overall
I had a blast at this showing of Sh!t-faced Shakespeare®: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and I’ll definitely be back for whatever show they put on next year – it’s become a bit of a Fringe tradition for me. Always an hour well spent, with much laughter and Shakespeare going wrong!
Sh!t-faced Shakespeare®: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Summary
Professionally-trained Shakespearean actors try to perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream whilst one of them is absolutely sh!tfaced. No two shows are the same, but they are always hilarious. Enjoy!
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