Shit-faced Showtime
The Otherplace
Magnificent Bastard Productions
From the very same crew that brought us last years Shit-faced Shakespeare comes an all new, all singing, all dancing, parody musical revue. This fresh-from-rehab group of musical performers are taking us on whistle stop ‘Shit-faced Showtime’ just off Broadway!
With a pretty wide selection of musical songs chosen as much for their difficult and silly rhymes as much as their ability to confuse, confound and plain irritate the inebriated cast member this was funny car crash fringe.
There’s the inevitable is she/isn’t she really drunk stuff (I followed them down the street after the show to be certain she was pissed as a serious newty newt, she was..) and I was a little concerned at the propriety of laughing at some poor women who seemed like she had a serious issue with her relationship with booze, but after having a drink myself and realising this was one of the first gigs of the fringe and I should just loosen up I let myself go. It’s the fringe after all…
Not that we had much choice, this nights drunkard; Issy was utterly charming from the off, with wild choreography, delightful bursts of mania and an all pervading mean threat of immediate implosion. This was the kind of fun that any of us who have watched a family member or friend get utterly, totally, smashed in a situation where that’s the last thing to do, can enjoy.
There were many laughs at her drunken expense and a few brilliant wondrous moments of improvising glee amongst the devastation but most of the laughter came directly from her smacking full pelt into the rest of the show. That’s the main issue with this show for me, it’s all centred around the unpredictable performance of one drunken cast member although there was a highlight of a camp Harlem hairdresser from another cast member and some fine singing. But it’s the full on drunken antics of the relentless lush with her smudged make up, wild hair, slipping off chairs, missing cues, blurting truths, bellowing songs , sarcastically shadowing other cast members and some very very funny moments where she decided that she ‘don’t’ be fucked anymore with this’ and sat down and told us as it was. This was a fringe delight, a decent into chaos and fun, and with a high quotient of laughter. Issy was a very charming drunk too, full of soft nuttiness and some great enthusiastic although terribly mismatched dance moves. One wonders what the show is like when the drunken one is not in such a good mood….
There’s no doubt this is cruel, mean and unwise, but it is consensual, silly and funny , and I really laughed for the entirety of the show. Which of us hasn’t been in that state at some time, or been the person trying to keep things together…..and they are doing it for the sake of art! So that’s ok then.
Shit Faced are at the Otherplace, Basement for their run. They are a good late night fringe show to catch and laugh at the mayhem.
Recommended purely for its unpredictable silliness.
For more info or to book tickets, click here:
1, 3, 4 May 21:30 1hr
Venue: Otherplace at the Basement: Main Spac
More on the Otherplace and their other venues, spaces and shows that are part of the Brighton fringe here:
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