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Review: Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare - Romeo & Juliet (Leicester Square Theatre)

Review by Daz Gale


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It was only a couple of months ago that a theatre a stone's throw from Leicester Square was hosting a production of William Shakespeare’s tragic classic Romeo & Juliet. The chances are every cast member was sober the whole way through, and if you would rather watch the story knowing that one of the cast is completely inebriated then you're in luck! Returning to their London home of Leicester Square Theatre ahead of a UK tour, Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare are offering their own take on Romeo & Juliet for this year's offering. Would this unique version of the story leave me giddy with delight, or nursing a killer hangover?


If you have never experienced a Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare show before, let me bring you up to speed. The comedy troupe have been delighting audiences all over the world for more than 16 years now, becoming repeated fixtures at the Edinburgh Fringe (where another production is playing simultaneously) and usually found somewhere in London in what has been described as the world’s longest bar crawl. Combining high-brow Elizabethan drama with drunken antics, the cast all rehearse one of Shakespeare’s classics and prepare to perform it as the Bard intended. The only problem is that one of them has been drinking for four hours before the show and is a little bit sloshed. As is so often the case, their antics derail the show, with the rest of the cast forced to respond to whatever curveball has been thrown their way, and anything really can happen.



Romeo & Juliet has been performed and interpreted many different ways over the years whether it’s Tom Holland taking a break from his spidey sense, Sadie Sink kicking off an influx of Stranger Things stars crossing the pond, or a musical where the story is retold using the songs of Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys… as the Bard intended, clearly. If you think you have seen the weirdest and most unexpected way the story can be told, Sh*t-Faced Shakespeare will tell you to “hold my beer” (as long as you give it back to them after) as they will take you on the strangest interpretation of the story ever told. The most exciting thing about it? It will be performed once and once only, as tomorrow’s show will be completely different.


That is down to the very nature of the show and drunkenness itself. A different performer from the group is selected at each show to be the one to get “Sh!t-Faced”, and what they get up to is completely up to them, and even out of their control. At this Saturday night performance, it was the turn of Eugene Evans to take one for the team, and even he couldn’t have predicted what would come out of his mouth over the course of the next two hours. After slipping in and out of his English accent, Evans decided to go completely Irish, leading to random thoughts about England and Ireland. Conversation then turned to religion as he attempted to cover them all, and decided to ask an audience member what their least favourite religion is, much to the panic of compere, Steph. Any Sh!t-Faced  Shakespeare show promises a certain degree of chaos, but this particular one seemed especially chaotic and out of control, even bordering on dangerous with its near-the-knuckle comments, as Steph frantically attempted to rein it in when Evans comments bordered crossing a line.



If you’re wondering where Bill Cosby and Jimmy Savile fit into the story of Romeo & Juliet, so was everyone else on the night, but that is the very nature of the show. Many of us have been guilty of a random stream of consciousness coming out of our mouth after having a few too many drinks - the only difference is we are not saying them in front of an audience, and for that we should all be thankful. Eugene’s roles as Mercutio and the Friar lead to additional lines, not quite found in Shakespeare’s original, where he accused Romeo of “being a little b*tch” as well as “being emo”, the classic question “Wherefore art thou Romeo?” replaced with “Were you having a wank?” and an improvised "I think I can survive this” following Mercutio’s horrific and bloody death. Sound weird? Spot on. But is it funny? Absolutely hilarious!


Other random moments found in this performance were an audience singalong to The Beatles ‘Hey Jude’ and a random reference to Billy Elliot, followed by the brilliant line “Romeo, that was electricity”. It is in the way the sober cast members respond to the unfolding chaos that makes a Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare show is so brilliant, relying on their improvisation skills and never missing a beat even when the drunk cast member has taken things to a place nobody could ever have dreamed of. Shakespeare purists who want to see the most famous scene played out faithfully might want to stay away, as Mercutio inserts himself into it hilariously, while the climactic death scene of the two lovers (spoilers, sorry) resulted in a lengthy chat about a very different kind of climax, as Eugene went around asking his fellow cast members a question I dare say has never been asked on a stage before, but it’s that kind of chaotic unpredictability that keeps audiences coming.



I thought I had seen a strange version or two of Romeo & Juliet in the past, but you can always rely on Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare to up the ante. If this review makes the show sound offensive or even appalling to you, it is hard to do it justice, but you can also be relieved to know that the show I saw will never be seen again. That said, I would encourage everyone to make at least one trip to Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare to see the most chaotic, disjointed and unhinged show since… well, Trainspotting the Musical I guess. Through all the chaos and randomness, it is a fantastic idea for a show at the heart of it - made better for the fact that nobody can ever predict what is going to happen, cast included. That solidarity as we all embrace the weirdness and somehow still get some semblance of the story told from start to finish (with the middle changing substantially) makes any trip to Sh*t-Faced Shaksapeare one that always leaves me wanting another round. 


If you like your Shakespeare performed as originally intended, you might be better off with a trip to the Globe. If, however, you are partial to many a four-letter word and references to disgraced TV personalities with repeated uses of the word “nonce” thrown in (something that was clearly missing from the original), Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare’s take on Romeo & Juliet may well be the show for you. Think Showstopper with Shakespeare and alcohol, and you get the idea - there is a reason this comedy group has been getting audiences drunk with laughter for so long, and this latest offering only goes to further that.


Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare - Romeo & Juliet plays at Leicester Square Theatre until 19th September. It then tours the UK from 29th September - 20th November



The group swap Shakespeare for Dickens for their now traditional Sh!t-Faced Showtime - A Pissedmas Carol at the same theatre from 10th December - 9th January. Tickets at

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