Shit-Faced Shakespeare, the smash-hit, internationally acclaimed, award-winning, multi sell-out fringe phenomenon is back in London for 2018 with two new shows: The Merchant of Venice (18th April – 2nd June) followed by Romeo and Juliet (20th June – 1st September). Critically lauded (and occasionally lambasted), Magnificent Bastard Productions return to the Leicester Square Theatre with a duo of Shakespeare classics served up with their signature shit-faced twist which could see a stumbling Shylock and a plastered pair of star-crossed lovers.
So how does it work? Well each performance has a cast of 6 actors, who all arrive 4 hours before the start of the show for a ‘party’ – however this party is dry for all but one performer, who gets Shit-faced. The rest is a balancing act between the (trimmed down to an hour) Shakespeare script and improv rules, which state you must go with WHATEVER the drunk actor decides to do. “Yes, and…” rather than “No, but…”. Every single show is a one-off. Every single performance has a different drunk actor. Every single time they are genuinely inebriated.
Formed in 2010 by a group of East15 graduates (largely), Magnificent Bastard Productions were just friends who loved creating unexpected and unpredictable theatre at music festivals such as Secret Garden Party. Shit-faced now performs across the UK, Australia and USA in Boston, Atlanta and Austin. They sell-out at the Edinburgh and Brighton Fringes annually, and in 2015 expanded into Shit-faced Showtime, a pissed-up hour of harmonious Broadway showtunes. In 2018, they return to the Leicester Square Theatre with the London premieres of Shit-faced Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice and Shit-faced Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet.
