Review by Emily Smith
The Booze and the Bard team in no way encourage audience members to join in with the drinking game inherent to their show, that would be irresponsible. The fact that their latest venue is a bar that stays open during the performance is entirely irrelevant. Everyone on the same page? Good.
Much Abrew About Nothing is the newest addition to the Shakespearean drinking game repertoire, coming off the back of the raucously bloody Hamlet: Pints of Denmark this FRINGE season. One actor starts the show taking shots of alcohol, last night Steph, playing both Beatrice and Borachio, took 6 shots of whiskey, and then hilarious chaos ensued as five actors attempted to perform the three hour play in just over an hour.
If the constraints weren’t enough, when a scene was going too well the narrator, Sarah, brought out a wheel for an audience member to spin and get a random addition to the scene, such as Benedick having a South African accent, switching to a sci-fi genre, or the characters who were finally declaring their love having to do so without the use of their arms. The performers had to know their lines well to adapt them quickly, eliciting laughs and groans alike for their improvised wordplay.
Thanks to Oscar on the sound desk the performers (but not the audience, that would be irresponsible) were reminded when to take a drink with a ding marking any line where a character expressed an aversion to love. Fans of the original will have already realised that Benedick and Beatrice were in for a lot of drinking, and the actors obliged with gusto.
Speaking as a total Shakespeare nerd one of the many reasons to see a Booze and the Bard production is you can bring along friends and family who have sworn off accompanying you to three hour long tragedies. It’s much easier to convince someone to head out to the Rosemount Hotel, grab a drink and a pub meal, and laugh at five drunk actors as they frantically swap costumes and improvise silly accents.
Much Abrew About Nothing is a riotous night of theatre done the way the Bard would have wanted.
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