REVIEW: Northern Girl on... Sh*t Faced Shakespeare
Me and Tom decided to have a date last Friday after securing ourselves tickets to the Leicester Square Theatre to see Sh*t Faced Shakespeare. We got our tickets on Time Out Offers so they were discounted to £14. Bargain.
We've been to LST a few times already since moving here and I have to say we really like it. It's incredibly tiny and intimate with stalls only seating for 400 (there's also a second 70 seater lounge theatre) and the room itself has two bars at either side of the seats. They tend to hold a lot of comedy shows here but due to it's limited seating you really have to keep an eye on the listings!
When we arrived at the theatre we simply had to swap our Time Out Vouchers for actual physical tickets at the box office which was a breeze and the box office staff are always extremely friendly and helpful. Once collected it was time to head in and enjoy the show.
We took our seats and had a quick view of the programme provided - great touch. Sat back and waited for the show to start. From that moment on, I don't think I stopped laughing once. From the build up video right through to the final dance sequence was constant laughter.
For background info, Sh*t Faced Shakespeare are covering Much Ado About Nothing this summer with various shows throughout the year. There is a rotating cast of 10 classically trained, shakespearean actors playing 7 roles in each performance with one catch, one actor has been drinking for approximately 4 hours before the show. It is never the same actor on consecutive nights and they will never drink on more than 3 occasions in any given month (that is when they're performing, I have no idea what they do in their spare time or after the show).
The show starts with the actor who is playing the compere/safety warden role warming up the crowd. Musical instruments and a bucket are handed out to members of the front row with the rules explained. If at any point the audience member with a musical instrument thinks the drunk actor is getting too sober; they sound their instrument, the compere comes back on stage and hands the drunk actor another drink. This can only happen on 3 occasions during the show so picking the right moment is key. The audience member with the bucket is told that if anyone shouts bucket at any moment they have to be alert and present said bucket - I think you can figure out why. The compere/safety warden then goes on to show the audience how much the actor has had to drink "ooooooh". It's fair to say our actor was truly shit faced. From memory I think he had consumed a can of lager, a bottle of cider and 2/3 of a bottle of Gordon's gin; top effort. From there, the show starts.
One thing I think they did exceptionally well is they don't actually tell you which actor is drunk and who they're playing. Given that the opening scene starts with 3 out of the 6 characters you spend the first scene trying to work out which one of them is actually drunk. That was until the appearance of the other 3 characters where the safety warden/compere quickly appeared back on stage to replace a sword with a swimming noodle - safety first and all that. That moment in itself was just perfect hilarity and you now knew who the drunk was and what to watch out for in the show.
From the moments of confusing the characters in Much Ado to Macbeth, to calling the actors by their real name and discussing the actor's watch which he forgot to remove - the actors are all in full shakespearean dress after all - the drunk Benedick provided some absolutely hilarious moments but what also blew me away was how incredible the other actors were to adapt to his drunken ramblings.
I don't want to give too much away but I cannot recommend this show enough. It's one of THE funnest nights in theatre I have ever had and I can't wait to take literally every family member/friend who visits throughout the summer because the beauty of it is no two shows will ever be the same!
Just don't sit on the front row if you don't fancy making a spontaneous guest appearance... #otter
Have you seen Sh*t Faced Shake before? Let me know.
Ng x
Tickets available here: https://leicestersquaretheatre.ticketsolve.com/shows/873562224 The show is on until the 16th September 2017.
We've been to LST a few times already since moving here and I have to say we really like it. It's incredibly tiny and intimate with stalls only seating for 400 (there's also a second 70 seater lounge theatre) and the room itself has two bars at either side of the seats. They tend to hold a lot of comedy shows here but due to it's limited seating you really have to keep an eye on the listings!
When we arrived at the theatre we simply had to swap our Time Out Vouchers for actual physical tickets at the box office which was a breeze and the box office staff are always extremely friendly and helpful. Once collected it was time to head in and enjoy the show.
We took our seats and had a quick view of the programme provided - great touch. Sat back and waited for the show to start. From that moment on, I don't think I stopped laughing once. From the build up video right through to the final dance sequence was constant laughter.
For background info, Sh*t Faced Shakespeare are covering Much Ado About Nothing this summer with various shows throughout the year. There is a rotating cast of 10 classically trained, shakespearean actors playing 7 roles in each performance with one catch, one actor has been drinking for approximately 4 hours before the show. It is never the same actor on consecutive nights and they will never drink on more than 3 occasions in any given month (that is when they're performing, I have no idea what they do in their spare time or after the show).
The show starts with the actor who is playing the compere/safety warden role warming up the crowd. Musical instruments and a bucket are handed out to members of the front row with the rules explained. If at any point the audience member with a musical instrument thinks the drunk actor is getting too sober; they sound their instrument, the compere comes back on stage and hands the drunk actor another drink. This can only happen on 3 occasions during the show so picking the right moment is key. The audience member with the bucket is told that if anyone shouts bucket at any moment they have to be alert and present said bucket - I think you can figure out why. The compere/safety warden then goes on to show the audience how much the actor has had to drink "ooooooh". It's fair to say our actor was truly shit faced. From memory I think he had consumed a can of lager, a bottle of cider and 2/3 of a bottle of Gordon's gin; top effort. From there, the show starts.
One thing I think they did exceptionally well is they don't actually tell you which actor is drunk and who they're playing. Given that the opening scene starts with 3 out of the 6 characters you spend the first scene trying to work out which one of them is actually drunk. That was until the appearance of the other 3 characters where the safety warden/compere quickly appeared back on stage to replace a sword with a swimming noodle - safety first and all that. That moment in itself was just perfect hilarity and you now knew who the drunk was and what to watch out for in the show.
From the moments of confusing the characters in Much Ado to Macbeth, to calling the actors by their real name and discussing the actor's watch which he forgot to remove - the actors are all in full shakespearean dress after all - the drunk Benedick provided some absolutely hilarious moments but what also blew me away was how incredible the other actors were to adapt to his drunken ramblings.
I don't want to give too much away but I cannot recommend this show enough. It's one of THE funnest nights in theatre I have ever had and I can't wait to take literally every family member/friend who visits throughout the summer because the beauty of it is no two shows will ever be the same!
Just don't sit on the front row if you don't fancy making a spontaneous guest appearance... #otter
Have you seen Sh*t Faced Shake before? Let me know.
Ng x
Tickets available here: https://leicestersquaretheatre.ticketsolve.com/shows/873562224 The show is on until the 16th September 2017.
Oh my gosh this sounds hilarious!!! I've never heard of this before but I definitely want to go!!!
ReplyDeleteHels xx
http://thehelsproject.com/
This really sounds like my kind of Shakespeare! Sounds like you had an awesome date night!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like so much fun! What a great idea for a date night! xx
ReplyDeleteSophia x http://sophiawhitham.co.uk