Drunk Shakespeare DC

Drunk Shakespeare DC in Washington's Penn Quarter, opened in May 2018 as the second venue of the Drunk Shakespeare Society after the original New York house (2014), ranks among America's most idiosyncratic theatrical formats. The concept is as simple as it is radical: a professional actor takes five shots of whiskey before each performance and then plays a classical Shakespearean role alongside three sober ensemble colleagues. What begins as chaotic chamber theatre evolves over 90 minutes into a runaway blend of classical Bard performance, improvisation, slapstick, and stand-up — no two performances are alike. The theatre, in the basement of a historic building on D Street, is intimately furnished: roughly 90 spectators sit at communal tables in a bar designed as a private library, surrounded by old books, antique furniture, and dimmed pendant lamps. The audience drinks along during the performance, can purchase "Shot Cards" to compel specific actors into additional rounds, and becomes part of the production: spectators are crowned kings, invited to weddings, or asked to read lines aloud. Plays from the repertoire — usually Shakespeare's popular comedies such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, or Much Ado About Nothing — are cut to 90 minutes and heavily adapted, though the language largely retains Shakespeare's original verse. Founders Scott Griffin (actor and Yale graduate) and David Hudson deliberately position the format as "Shakespeare for people who hate Shakespeare" — and have reached an audience that would otherwise avoid classical theatre.