Performance Photos: Shit-Faced Shakespeare by Magnificent Bastard Productions, Opening January 22, 2016 at Spider House Ballroom, Austin
An adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare with additional material by Lewis Ironside; Shit-faced Shakespeare by Magnificent Bastard Productions is the hilarious combination of an entirely serious Shakespeare play with an entirely shit-faced cast member. Side-splitting, raucous and completely interactive, the show has already entertained over 25,000 eager theatre goers across the UK, and now they have come to the states!
Shit-faced Shakespeare, presented by UK-based Magnificent Bastard Productions, crossed the pond in early 2015 for the US premiere of their completely interactive production of A Midsummer Night's Dream an entirely serious production with an entirely drunken cast member. Yes, you read that correctly. Drunk and 100% legal. Every performance includes one genuinely drunken professional actor, selected at random - making no two productions ever the same. This raunchy and magnificent bunch of friends will present A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Austin come January. Having successfully completed multiple sell-out runs of the Edinburgh and Brighton Fringe Festivals, and a hugely popular run in Boston, Shit-faced Shakespeare is gearing up to head to the Spider House Cafe and Ballroom in January/February for eight weeks. While Shit-Faced Shakespeare US checks off Boston and Austin in 2016, UK actors will be gearing up for their West End production this spring. The US has seen its fair share of mega-theater imports from the UK but not on the fringe scene. “Having spent ten years in London, working as an actor and producer - I’m thrilled to be able to bring one of the hottest comedies from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to the states,” says Gabriel Kuttner, producer of Shit-faced Shakespeare.
Previous productions have featured highlights such as partial male nudity, ill-fated crowd surfing, transvestitism, simulated sex acts, unconsciousness, partial female nudity, Justin Timberlake impressions, actual acts of a sexual nature and ‘battle yodelling’. All presented within the confines of one of the finest works in the literary canon.
Shit-Faced Shakespeare seeks to introduce a new generation of theatre-goers to the works of the Bard, in the manner we are convinced it was originally intended to be presented. As the sober cast members desperately attempt to tell the story around the drunk, we hark back to the time of the King’s Men of the 1600’s, inviting the audience to see past the archaisms of language and into the pulsating heart of the play - reminding them as we go always to enjoy Shakespeare responsibly!
Shit-faced Shakespearein numbers:
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· 6Years old and still 0deaths
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· Over 150 professional shows performed
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· More than 1,400 cans and over 375 bottles of beer consumed on stage
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· Times the Dawson's Creek theme tune has been drunkenly sung: 37
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· Approximately 4,450 Units of alcohol drank in preparation for shows
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· 29 individual nipples displayed on stage (62%of them male)
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· £ 179.90 worth of Domino's Pizza ordered for a single show (it was 2 for 1 Thursday)
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· Number of prosthetic limbs used during sword fights: 1
“ Theatre, after all, should be more of an experience than a passive event. “ – B D C W i r e “ You'll want to get s-faced with this Shakespeare adaptation ... ” - The Boston Metro
“A high concept show if ever there was one ...”-Guardian
“This. Is. Spectacular! ... makes for a fun night”-Jared Bowen, WGBH“The funniest show we saw on our four-day trip to the Scottish capital... Brilliant!”-Daily Star
“It’s chaotic, it’s crass, it’s fun, and it’s a show that certainly should not be missed.”– Harvard Crimson “Very rock ‘n’ roll.”-London TimesShit-faced Shakespeare
by Magnificent Bastard Productions
produced by Gabriel Kuttner and Daniel Berger-Jones, in association with Cambridge Historical Tours
Opening January 22, 2016 with U-K and Boston-based casts; performances Saturday, January 23 and Wednesday, January 27.
Austin cast debut: January 30 & 31, February 3 - 5. Projected to runs through March 5, 2016.
All performances begin at 6:30 p.m.
Spider House Cafe and Ballroom 2908 Fruth Street, Austin, TX 78705,
Tickets will be available via spiderhouseaustin.com/events.
Tickets for January 22 - February 5, 2016 $19.98 plus service charges via
Half-price tickets ($9 plus service charges) available for first four performances via
Shit-Faced Shakespeare
by William Shakespeare and ensemble of Magnificent Bastard Productions
Magnificent Bastard Productions
January 22 - June 25, 2016
Extension runs :: April 8, 2016 - June 25, 2016; select Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings.
Full schedule and tickets available at www.shit-facedshakespeare.com
Doors 30 minutes prior to curtain.
Spider House Ballroom, 2908 Fruth Street, Austin, TX 78705
Tickets: www.shit-facedshakespeare.com
