Sh!t-faced Shakespeare: Alcohol fuelled fever-dream comedy play leaves Scarborough Spa in stitches

The unconventionally hilarious theatre production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream came to Scarborough Spa on Friday evening. Photos: Scarborough Spa.The unconventionally hilarious theatre production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream came to Scarborough Spa on Friday evening. Photos: Scarborough Spa.
The unconventionally hilarious theatre production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream came to Scarborough Spa on Friday evening. Photos: Scarborough Spa.
Hilarious re-imagining of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream came to Scarborough Spa on Friday evening (October 18).

Sh!t-faced Shakespeare is a theatre company with a big twist- they elect one of their professional actors each night to be plied with a bucket-load of booze. Hilarious drunken antics ensue as lines are forgotten and chaos unfolds.

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A glitzy compere opened the show by explaining how the night would proceed, and that one actor had already drunk a pint and most of a bottle of vodka while rehearsing for the big event.

She then gave out a gong and a horn to two excited audience members to use at their will, ensuring that the drunk cast member would never get too sober. Once the gong or horn sounded, the compere would pause the show, leap onto the stage and much to the delight of the drunk actor, give them another pint.

The cast taking a well-deserved bow after the fever-dream show of drunken Shakespeare was finished.The cast taking a well-deserved bow after the fever-dream show of drunken Shakespeare was finished.
The cast taking a well-deserved bow after the fever-dream show of drunken Shakespeare was finished.

A bucket was also handed to a member of the audience in case the drunk actor needed to be sick.

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a Shakespeare comedy set in Athens with a colourful cast of fairies, bewitched donkeys and young lovers that makes it the perfect backdrop for the Sh!t-faced Shakespeare group to run wild.

Four young lovers namely, Lysander, Hermia, Helena and Demetrius are faced with the prospect of an unhappy marriage or worse. They flee the court of Athens and stumble into an enchanted forest, where the real and fairy worlds collide.

The drunken actor of the evening was Natalie Boakye who played the not so very down-trodden Helena, who loudly disagreed with her pining monologues and gave a funny running commentary while trying to recall her lines. The actress stole the show in all of her scenes (as well as her co-star's scenes) and her random rendition of songs from popular cartoon The Simpsons had the crowd in stitches.

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The costumes were stunning and typical for a ‘traditional’ Shakespeare production, which lulled the audience into a false sense of security as the show began, with painted sets adding to the facade.

However the second Boakye staggered on stage the room was full of laughter, especially when she accidentally stole the costume of a much larger male actor who was then forced to appear in a very snug and slinky gown.

The story begins with Hermia a woman head over heels with Lysander, who is given a horrible ultimatum of either death or marrying the stubborn Demetrius. In what could have been a sad scene, Helena, Hermia’s best friend, attempted to console her. However, alcohol-fuelled Helena quickly started shouting about how unfair it was she was being left alone as Hermia and Lysander plotted to run away, loudly making fun of her friend and asking if the audience thought she was sexy, which left the whole room buzzing with laughter.

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The other sober actors handled the frequent script changes well and improvised to fit with Helena’s outbursts and inconsistencies seamlessly, showing great skill and comedic genius.

As Oberon and Puck joined the cast the fun increased tenfold, with the magical tricks and misunderstandings further adding to the hilarity. Puck chose a man from the audience to become Titania the fairy queen, who later came on stage with a magnificent headdress to ‘seductively’ dance with Bottom.

Scenes were cut to finish the show on time but no one minded as the chaotic and ridiculous performance was engaging from start to finish, and included a provocative dance from a ‘snake’ and a very drunk tree.

This was the most unconventional and funny performance of a Shakespeare play I have ever seen, but it is also one I shall never forget.

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