Sh!tFaced Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing – Pleasance at EICC

Shakespeare is already a dramatic affair, especially when it comes to Much Ado About Nothing, but what happens when one of the play’s leads is drunk?

Sh!t Faced Shakespeare takes a cast of professionally trained Shakespearean actors and then gets one of them drunk leading to what can only be described as beautifully brilliant chaos. The cast must then attempt to perform a shortened performance of the chosen Shakespeare text whilst putting up with the drunken adlibs of their inebriated cast mate.

To make things more interesting a different cast member will take on the role of the drunk each night along with a different character in the show, you are guaranteed that the show will be different every night of the run.

The show is safe enough with the drunk being supervised at all times by the show host (compére), if the audience doesn’t believe the drunk to be drunk enough, they can call for more alcohol to be provided. In this performance our drunkard (Adam Goodbody) played the role of Claudio, and within seconds of being onstage the Shakespeare was over and instead Claudio decided what was more important was the explanation of what “the birds and the bees” was.

It should be noted that the original story of Much Ado About Nothing focuses on two main love stories: firstly that of Claudio and Hero (Mayam Grace), sweethearts who plan to marry until the evil Don John (David Ellis) convinces Claudio that Hero has been unfaithful, our second is an enemies to lovers story featuring Benedict (Jamie Sandersfield) and Beatrice (Flora Sowerby) who despite their protests are in love with one another. This version however was quite the bit different, whilst our Benedict and Beatrice story remained intact, Claudio decided that he would prefer to marry Hero’s mother Leonata (Beth-Lousie Priestly) and with that pursuit the intended love story fell apart.

The cast really demonstrate their improvisation skills, having to take the story as our drunk moulds it, finding the right timing to stick to their original scripts and changing things up when needed. By the end of the show we concluded with 2 happy couples just not the two in which Shakespeare had intended.

This is a show not to be missed and belly laughs are guaranteed. Whether you are a fan of Shakespeare or just utter chaos you won’t regret factoring in this show when planning your fringe schedule.

Sh!t Faced Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing plays until 25th August (excluding 19th) nightly at alternating times at The Pleasance at EICC

Buy Tickets at: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/sh-t-faced-shakespeare-much-ado-about-nothing

Reviewer: Beth Eltringham

Reviewed: 15th August 2024

North West End UK Rating: