Shit-faced Shakespeare: Macbeth @ Pleasance EICC

Over the course of a wonderful hour watching Shit-faced Shakespeare, it becomes clear that both the cast and the whole team behind the show have absolutely perfected not just their own premise but how to completely win over a Fringe audience.

The show is always a Shakespearean production (this year, Macbeth) featuring a cast of five professional Shakespearean actors, one of whom has just spent the past four hours getting very drunk. Of course, chaos and merriment ensue, leaving the cast as surprised, amused and tormented as the audience.

The performance is compered – though ‘crisis-managed’ might be a more accurate description – by an additional member of the cast who works, with increasing difficulty and hilarity, to keep the performance on track. As the drunken Lady Macbeth, Maryam Grace works endearingly to thwart the production, ironically and appropriately by tormenting her own onstage husband. She does it with flirtation, accusations of misogyny, and complete ridicule for and disinterest in his character arc; the two have excellent comedic chemistry. With audience participation to get Lady Macbeth even drunker as the show progresses, this leaves the compere running across the stage, sometimes with Lady Macbeth over his shoulder.

As the show progresses, a level of camaraderie emerges between the audience and the sober cast members, who seem to be as much in the dark about what will happen next as we are. However, the show still feels incredibly polished and they do a fantastic job of indulging the pandemonium and improvising their own jokes about Lady Macbeth’s bad influence, as well as performing some fantastic Shakespeare in the face of her drunken chaos. Truly capturing the hearts of its audience, it is clear why Shit-faced Shakespeare has become such a beloved Edinburgh Fringe staple. 

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Shit-faced Shakespeare: Macbeth, Pleasance @ EICC (Pentland Theatre), until 28 Aug (not 22), 10pm, £17-18.50