Shit-Faced Shakespeare

Melbourne International Comedy Festival

Shit-Faced Shakespeare

The Athnaeum Theatre

Until 22 April

A troupe of classically trained Shakespearean Actors. One of Shakespeare's better-known plays. An hour to give an abridged version of Macbeth. 

And one of the characters has had a couple of beers and half a bottle of vodka in the four hours before the performance.

Yes, this is the premise of Shit-faced Shakespeare, and it was most wonderful. 

Why? 

Well, have you ever witnessed people having to actively manage a happy drunk? It's not something you want to do, but it's quite fun to laugh at other's misfortunes, from the person in the front row who was given the "just in case" bucket, to anybody who walked in late, which is always a bad thing to do at any comedy, for fear of getting picked on. 

In this case, in this troupe of six very good, obviously well-trained actors, they bring on Macbeth, with some improvisation - that being that one of them has downed around half a bottle of vodka in the last few hours.

This isn't Slighty-Squiffy Shakespeare - one of the crew is pretty blotto. Obvikously drunk. The sort of drunk where you know you're going to be looking after your friend for the night, which the cast did admirably. It was obvious they were taking care of each other. 

I've heard through the grapevine that of the troupe, for OHS reasons, they've restricted the players to being the drunk one only once a week. The liver damage would be palpable if it were to be any more. 

So, if you were to go to consecutive shows, you'd find a different player being the one who got maggoted. 

I'm sure they're also well proven to be happy or cuddly drunks, as you wouldn't want an angry or morose player up there. Macbeth is grim enough. 

So, on our night, we had Banquo the Blathered. And she was gorgeous. Wonderfully disruptive, wobbly enough to gather a laugh while not so far gone that she was going to do any damage. Her interruptions to the play, where the actors were trying to get through their abridged version of the Scottish play was what made it funny. There was also some light audience participation - something which was to be expected - so if you're going, maybe stay away from the first two rows in the stalls. 

This was a great way to spend an hour at the Comedy Festival - it's light, fun and tickled my fancy as it involved Shakespeare. 

It's definitely worth a look if you're up for something silly to occupy an hour of your evening. 

Today's song: