{"id":347760,"date":"2025-08-15T23:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T23:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/347760\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T23:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T23:44:13","slug":"shtfaced-shakespeares-hamlet-leicester-square-theatre-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/347760\/","title":{"rendered":"Sh!tfaced Shakespeare\u2019s Hamlet – Leicester Square Theatre, London"},"content":{"rendered":"

Writer: William Shakespeare<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director: Stacey Norris<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sh!tfaced Shakespeare has returned to the West End to celebrate 15 years of reimagining the famous bard\u2019s works in a way never seen before. Playing at the Leicester Square Theatre for a limited five-week run, before embarking on a national tour, the company has returned to put on an evening of guaranteed hilarity.<\/p>\n

Their current production of Shakespeare\u2019s Hamlet is a brilliant adaptation that proves the brilliance of the company and how unique it is. It\u2019s no wonder that the company is now celebrating its 15th anniversary.<\/p>\n

If unfamiliar with their concept, the cast of Shakespearean-trained actors rehearse a condensed version of one of the Bard\u2019s plays. Each night, four hours before curtain up, a member of the cast is selected to get drunk, and then they try to perform the show as scripted. A concept so ridiculous but brilliant, it just works so incredibly well, and no matter how many times you visit a Sh!tfaced show, you\u2019re never short of leaving in stitches of laughter.<\/p>\n

Press night sees Jamie Sandersfield as the unlucky cast member to be inebriated. To drink or not to drink, that is the question \u2013 and Sandersfield is hilariously messy yet magnificent. His improvisation in the role is genius, and he keeps up the act very well despite circumstances.<\/p>\n

The entire cast works so well together, bouncing off one another to keep the play going, despite not really going right. Although all are Shakespearean-trained, they are also all natural comedic actors. The play never feels awkward or stagnant despite rarely sticking to the script, which makes it all the more enjoyable.<\/p>\n

Nicola Jones\u2019 set design is perfectly suited to ensure chaos, feeling part gimmicky, part intentional \u2013 it sets the cast up to create a show of pure laughter. Staying true to its humble beginnings, part of the charm of these shows is that they don\u2019t take themselves too seriously and stick to the original concept, which is tried and tested.<\/p>\n

Instrumental props are offered to the audience, who can choose when to play their instrument at any given time in the show, forcing the drunken actor to have another drink. Audience participation can often feel awkward if too forced, but this method is wonderful as it allows the whole audience to be in on the joke without making anyone feel put out or uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

It is a joy to celebrate Sh!tfaced Shakespeare on its 15-year milestone, and its adaptation of Hamlet does not disappoint. Their UK tour is set to be a great success and will enable many more audiences to join them for a night of hilarious debauchery.<\/p>\n

Runs until 21 September 2025, then on a UK tour until 15 November\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\t\t\tThe Reviews Hub Star Rating<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t80%<\/p>\n

\t\t\tShakespearean madness<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Stacey Norris Sh!tfaced Shakespeare has returned to the West End to celebrate 15 years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,123154,123155,257,123156,6080,123157,123158,22252,123159,2764,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-347760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-jamie-sandersfield","12":"tag-leicester-square-theatre","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-nicola-jones","15":"tag-review","16":"tag-shtfaced-shakespeare","17":"tag-shtfaced-shakespeares-hamlet","18":"tag-shakespeare","19":"tag-stacey-norris","20":"tag-theatre","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115035443298401594","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}