Review! A Pissedmas Carol by Sh!tFaced Showtime

REVIEW!
Shitfaced Showtime - A Pissedmas Carol

"It's woooooonderous!"

In a season bursting at the seams with pantomimes and yet more “bold reimaginings” of classic stories, why not treat yourself to something with an actual twist? Enter A Pissedmas Carol. Five highly trained actors rehearse a neat, snappy version of Dickens’s beloved tale—only for one of them to show up gloriously, unapologetically drunk. What happens next on the Leicester Square Theatre stage is utter mayhem, fuelled by chaos, comedy, and questionable decision-making. And yes, someone really is smashed on stage every night. Don’t worry—thanks to a rotation system, no actor drinks more than four times a month, making them, ironically, one of the most sober casts in the West End.

You may think you know the story: cranky miser Ebenezer Scrooge, long-suffering Bob Cratchit, Marley rattling his chains, the three spirits, and a heartwarming seasonal epiphany. Adorable. Forget all of that. The plot becomes more of a suggestion than a structure—something the cast occasionally remembers exists before veering back into chaos.

The Leicester Square Theatre provides the perfect cosy setting for this delightful nonsense, making the audience feel like co-conspirators in the night’s mischief. And that’s without even mentioning the “special tools” handed out by the evening’s compere… if you know, you know.

Our drunk of the night was Ashley Gerlach as Scrooge, which meant plenty of stage time with our wonderfully inebriated anti-hero and a whole treasure trove of off-script ramblings. How much of what he said was actually in the script? Your guess is as good as mine. Meanwhile, the ever-determined James Murfitt kept valiantly attempting to nudge the plot back on track, but it was a lost cause; chaos reigned, and the rest of the cast navigated it with the effortless finesse of seasoned improvisers. At one point, Gerlach even wandered into the audience and had to be gently lured back like a confused festive woodland creature.

Every performer was hilarious, nimble, and brimming with talent, but my personal favourite of the evening was Dan Quirke—particularly as the Ghost of Christmas Present. In short, he was nothing less than wondrous.

What I absolutely did not see coming was the presence of full-blown musical numbers. Under the musical direction of Charlotte Brooke, the song choices had enough built-in comedy to qualify as jokes in their own right—featuring several beloved Christmas classics, each given a distinctly “Showtime-gone-wrong” twist. At one point, I found myself thinking: Did the lyrics to “Last Christmas” genuinely become “Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the very next day, I found out… you’re gay?” Or did I witness an act of drunken lyrical genius? Honestly, either option feels entirely plausible.

Issy Wroe Wright and Alice Merivale delivered vocals so good they almost made you forget someone on stage was meant to be plastered. The set by Nicola Jones was charmingly simple—and featured one particularly rebellious door that seemed determined to steal the spotlight. Strangely, its misbehaviour only added to the comedy. Meanwhile, Lucy Fowler’s costuming beautifully captured the Victorian era… at least up until the moment Scrooge removed his watch and the illusion gently crumbled.

Whether you're after big laughs, a boozy twist on a classic, or simply a night out that guarantees you won’t see the same show twice, Shitfaced Showtime delivers all that and more. Catch A Pissedmas Carol at the Leicester Square Theatre until 4th January 2026.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Book tickets for A Pissedmas Carol here.