Leicester Square Theatre – until 7 January 2023
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
4****
Sh!t-Faced Showtime’s hilarious version of A Christmas Carol returns to Leicester Square Theatre for another alcohol-fuelled run.
Before each show, one member of the cast drinks as much as they can, and the rest have to cope with the aftermath on stage. Presided over by a sequinned Charles Dickens, who hands out props for audience members to decide when to give the actor another drink, the audience are encouraged to be loud.
Christmas classics from Wham and, of course, Slade are scattered throughout the show, given new lyrics and are weirdly brilliant sung in Victorian costume – a Kate Bush classic also gets a huge cheer. The production goes full adult panto with Mrs Fezziwig’s appearance, and the cast cope brilliantly improvising around drunk Scrooge’s actions and lines. The performance I saw had a drunken Scrooge trying to get his teeth around berating Bob Cratchit for not doing the doodles, planning a trip to Tenerife for Christmas, reminiscing about his time at ninja school with the Ghost of Christmas Past, sharing his love for the actor playing the Ghost of Christmas Present going full Brian Blessed, moving in with Mrs Cratchit and repeatedly being rescued by Charles Dickens as his ninja rolls nearly had him landing on the laps of the first row. Scrooge’s running commentary and stage directions and a (thoroughly deserved) appreciation thread about the cast’s ability to make call-backs to his ridiculous earlier contributions get more frequent as more drink is taken. Press night’s ending was definitely not as Dickens wrote it!
Rude, silly and fantastically unpredictable, A Pissedmas Carol remains a great night out with friends – spirited Christmas entertainment that never fails to cheer.