Leicester Square Theatre – until Sunday 4 January 2026
Reviewed by Julia Spargo
5*****
It’s Christmas time, and the West End is alive with glittery people staggering out of work parties, some of which may have been in questionable venues with mediocre food. Fear not, I have found an excellent work Christmas night out.
The premise of Sh!tfaced Showtime is that the main cast member of the production is spectacularly drunk, and this production begins with a commanding compere showing the audience how much the cast member (Scrooge) has drunk before the show. This is the point at which some, unfamiliar with Sh!tfaced Showtime, might question the morals of cheering along to the blood poisoning of a stage actor. The programme, however, is keen to highlight that as the cast is rotated, the main actor is never required to drink (for the purpose of the show) more than four times in a month; “this makes us the most sober cast of actors you are likely to find in the West End!” Fair enough.
The (in last night’s case incredibly) inebriated main actor ispropped up by a small but sober cast, who must be prepared to go off-piste, ad-lib, rein in the madness and keep to time.
The show started with audience members engaged in holding musical instruments or a Christmas cracker to be deployed during the show and a person seated in the front row was tasked with holding a bucket which may be needed for bodily secretions during the course of the performance. I had a large glass of wine. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. The compere explained he would carry an airhorn, which he would use to bring the inebriated actor back on track if he went too rogue.
And rogue, he did. Scrooge (Ashley Gerlach) arrived on stage using a cane which was less for dramatic effect and more for his own welfare. In the first scene, his watch was removed by the compere, he slumped into a fit of giggles and refused to put on his hat. Credit to the cast, who keep the action moving while making their way through a host of Christmas songs. Themes of last night included premature ejaculation, mothers eating their young, and “chugging” for the NSPCC. Incredibly, these themes were brought into the songs and looped back at various points during the show. The show is chaos, but an absolute riot. The audience last night were hugely engaged and the laughter was consistent.At one point, Scrooge snuck off stage and sat giggling in the audience before being dragged back up by two unfazed cast members.
Assuming that every night on stage, this production will look very different, I was impressed by the small cast (some playing multiple roles, kudos to the absolutely brilliant Dan Quirke and Alice Merrivale for humour and improvisation), simple set changes, few props, and engaging use of lighting for a dream sequence that nearly had me off my seat in hysterics.
A front-row audience member ended up on stage in an uncompromising position on stage as a Christmas turkey. Sh!tfaced Showtime is complete carnage. It’s like a drunken adult panto read-through. The trick is that the audience is in on the joke, and invited to revel in the madness. They definitely did. Everyone left grinning. Knowing that the anarchy of last night can’t be replicated, I might go again, and take all my colleagues with me.