I remember when I first tried to read Shakespeare, I was about 12 or 13, and I couldn’t get through the play. I don’t even remember the name of the play, but I couldn’t get past the language. Then in high school, in class we read A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, and Macbeth. I really enjoyed all three of them, especially Hamlet, and the old English language suddenly didn’t matter anymore and I was finally able to appreciate Shakespeare. Then, for my friend’s birthday, we went to see the Drunk Shakespeare version of Macbeth, and I thought it was a complete waste of money.

It was really hard to follow, and I don’t think you’d have to have read Macbeth to be able to not follow it at all. The references to modern day pop culture and life were a little amusing, but for the most part, it resembled very little of the Shakespeare I appreciate. In fact, I was waiting the entire two hours for the show to be done. It’s basically like paying $60 to see a bunch of drunk young adults dance, spar, fight, argue, yell, and sing random Disney songs with the occasional hint of Shakespeare quotations. I’m pretty certain that the people who are raving about it and rating it so highly on Yelp and Tripadvisor just love to pay too much money to watch a bunch of drunk people “act” and mumble and yell Shakespearean words and language. If I could get my money back for this, I would. Why would I pay to see a bunch of intoxicated people stumble around when I could do that for free any late night anywhere in this great metropolis?