★★★★☆ - Delicious
Actually, it defies definition because you’ve never experienced The Bard like this.
“Shotspeare’s Macbeth,” written by Matthew Morgan and William Shakespeare, and directed by Morgan, is now in a very limited run at Cockroach Theatre. At first blush as the cast entertains the audience with preshow antics (a greenshow, of sorts?), this former producer is gasping. Drinking on stage before a show? Encouraging the audience to join in? Oh, the insurance liability! Oh, the drunken performances! Oh, the…. Wait, the play begins. Sort of.
First there are questions and instructions; easy ground rules to understand.
The ensemble cast made up of the playwright, Brian David Sloan, Mindy Woodhead, Lysander Abadia, and Brandon Alan McClenahan, begin The Scottish Play with the three witches. Obviously we’re going to skip entire scenes. How else will we be finished in 75 minutes?
We break into modern-day rhetoric, we break into Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” We break for shots or to chug a beer, we break to play a game wherein you can win a prize IF you know your Shakespeare. But we never break the non-stop hilarity.
If there is one criticism it would be with Sloan, who takes on the title role. Many times throughout the performance, his volume plummeted and he could not be heard up in the cheap seats.
This is interactive, audience participation, scripted, improvisational comedy.
A warning. Okay, several. This is adult entertainment; no one under the age of 21 will be admitted, no exceptions; no seat in the theatre is safe.
Oh, this is madness! This is madcap fun. Other than “go,” more cannot be said.
What: Shotspeare’s Macbeth
When: 8 p.m. Friday - Saturday, through July
Where: Art Square Theatre, 1025 S First St, #110
Tickets: $20 (www.cockroachtheatre.com, 702- 818-3422)