The premise of this show is simple, hence why it's become such a sellout success since it launched at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2010. Five classically-trained actors deliver a (rather abridged) version of a Shakespeare classic, with the one minor difference in that each night a different actor spends four hours pre-show on the sauce...
During our visit this week it was the turn of a rather inebriated Juliet, bringing a new and somewhat potty-mouthed dimension to Shakespeare's beloved tragedy, not to mention a few unique plot twists that we’ve certainly never seen before as the rest of the (sober) cast tried their utmost to stick vaguely to the original script...
I can’t remember the last time I laughed until I cried and my face ached, I was honestly begging for the interval for respite. This is one show that is seriously funy; straight up, no holds barred, never quite know what's going to happen funny. From a potentially actually legal on stage marriage to Juliet surviving her self-poisoning and skipping off into the sunset with Rome Michael Interchangeable Montague (yes, I didn't realise he had middle names either...) it was a laugh a minute. Trouble is I know want to see it four more times to see what happens when the rest of the cast get on it as well.
Romeo & Juliet is running at the Leicester Square Theatre until September 10th, while there's also a national tour going on of Macbeth. What's more, Shit-faced Showtime! embraces drunken musicals (music to my ears...) and December sees the return of festive classic A Pissedmas Carol. Sign me up!
