Drunk Shakespeare Tips a Hat to Tipsy Theater

Resting on the edge of Chicago’s theater district sits one of the city’s most lauded and boisterous attractions — Drunk Shakespeare.

Operating in the Lion Theater at 182 N. Wabash Ave., Drunk Shakespeare invites drama scholars and comedy crowds alike for a night of intoxicating theatrics.

Upon entrance, guests seat themselves on bleachers of wooden benches wrapped around a thin stretch of stage. The 21+ venue distributes complimentary shots and a menu of Shakespeare-themed cocktails, including the “Blackberry Bramble” and “Drowning Ophelia.”

As drinks flowed amongst the cozy crowd, five of the theater’s rotating cast members introduced themselves to the audience. Announcing which Shakespearean work they’d perform, the quintet revealed the hook of the performance — completing the story while getting progressively drunker.

“Macbeth” was the featured play Jan. 18, featuring performers Ben Jenkins as Ross, Jackie Smook as Macduff, Ethan Lyvers as Banquo, Malcolm and the Porter, Mo Riley as Lady Macbeth and Skylar Sprague as Macbeth.

“You’ve stumbled into our tent of debauchery tonight,” Jenkins said to the audience. “Between the five of us there are 420 years of drinking, 69 years of performing Shakespeare and one year of writing online erotica.”

To christen the performance, Sprague downed four shots of mezcal, giving a fifth to an attendee to provide proof of the proof.

A selection then began for the performance’s King and Queen — guest VIP seating given a champagne bottle, caviar, a cast photo after the show and a portrait drawn by Sprague.

A fervent bidding war followed, with Jenkins acting as a quick-tongued auctioneer, bouncing between prices and pointing to raised hands. Ending at $250, two guests rose to the esteemed seats and adorned silver crowns as night’s performance began.

From the three witches’ opening prophecy to Macbeth’s closing demise, Drunk Shakespeare’s company moved through each scene with equal deft and disruption. The 400-year-old tale of a Scottish lord usurping the crown, only to then be dethroned is rife with murder, scandal and poetry — an ample playground for mischief.

After delivering each soliloquy, the cast would pause to banter with and playfully roast the audience. With Shakespeare’s written work featuring phrases such as “Come you spirits” and “I have given suck,” Riley as Lady Macbeth particularly emphasized an overtly sexual tone to play up the double entendres.

The close of the first scene set the show’s classically disordered tone as Jenkins dared Sprague to deliver a perfect monologue or drink again. He did both.

“I feel like a shining beam of light shooting through eternity,” Sprague said after his fifth shot.

Similar off-the-cuff dares applied to the remaining, sober cast members. Jenkins as Ross was tasked to deliver each of his lines with a different impression. The result was Yoda, Louis Armstrong, Mike Tyson, Randy Savage and Roy Kent from “Ted Lasso” all delivering news of the royal takeover.

As Banqou, Lyvers was given the more onerous task of rendering each line in a singular monologue as a differing impression. Lyvers moved between Gollum, Mathew McConaughey, Michael Kane, Iago from “Aladdin” and Kronk from “The Emperor’s New Groove” with impromptu energy.

“Squeak squeaky squeakity-squeak, you are now king, Mac-squeak,” X said.

With each passing minute, the mezcal took a stronger effect on Sprague’s system, but not his muscle memory. Occasionally entering a scene early or forgetting he was in one altogether, Sprague nevertheless recalled his lines with comedic precision arising from clear practice and drunken impulse.

The entertainment held no punches in pairing a well-acted display with rapid inebriation. Aiding the gleeful chaos were recurring bits both within the show and the audience. 

The character of Lennox was given life via a puppet parroted by the cast, Sprague delivered a monologue while staring down every attendee one by one and Smook capped off Macduff’s revelation of Macbeth’s misdeeds by soulfully belting “Defying Gravity” from “Wicked.”

Concluding the performance were additional stunts featuring a choreographed dance to Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” — with the plastered Sprague comedically out of step. A final display followed with Sprague rolling about the stage on a wheeled board whilst attendees sprayed him with water guns. 

As Macbeth was executed and dethroned, the quintet emerged with a final bow. Sprague’s trousers fell to reveal Spongebob underwear, yet the five continued standing and, on a count of three, gave a final shout of a repeated moniker — “Shakespeare!”

Tickets for Drunk Shakespeare can be purchased online.