Interview: Evan Taylor of SHIT-FACED SHAKESPEARE PRESENTS MACBETH at Southern Theatre

No trash cans will be safe when Evan Taylor and the cast of Shit-faced Shakespeare present MACBETH 8 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Southern Theatre (21 E. Main St. in downtown Columbus).

The last time the Boston theatre troupe performed at the Southern, Taylor played Laertes in HAMLET.

Nearing the end of the show, Taylor made the alcohol-fueled decision to battle Hamlet in the climactic duel on their “steeds.”

The “steeds” in this case were two oversized rolling garbage cans. Other members of the cast pushed Laertes and Hamlet into each other for a jousting match.

“We did our entire sword fight for the night in those trash cans,” Taylor said with a laugh. “It was a wonderful time.”

Generally speaking, showing up for a performance while intoxicated would be grounds for dismissal. With Shit-faced Shakespeare, it’s a prerequisite.

While the rest of the troupe tries to perform a traditional production of the Bard’s work, a different actor in each performance is inebriated and does whatever they can to sabotage the show.

For the Columbus performance, it’s Taylor’s turn to be the sloshed one as the actor plays Macbeth and Malcolm.

“People in the company say the real talent, the real work is being in the sober cast,” Taylor said. “They roll with the punches, listening to everything the drunk actor incorporates into the show and then trying to involve whatever it is they’re doing into the plot of the play.

“It's a matter of listening and being ready for anything to happen. Lord knows it will.”

Among the more interesting bits Taylor came up with was bribing the drunken actor with leftover chicken nuggets to keep the play on track.

“By the end of the show, I was throwing nuggets across the stage and they were catching in their mouth,” Taylor said.

“At the end of the day, there is a certain level of terror that’s never going to go away. You just have to make your peace with it.”

Before Taylor joined Shit-faced Shakespeare in 2024, the actor was finishing up his role as Romeo in the Actors’ Shakespeare Project production of ROMEO AND JULIET in Boston.

“I saw these Shit-faced Shakespeare posters all over the place,” they said. “I talked with them about how the show works and it sounded like something I might be interested in trying out for.”

What may surprise most of the audience is how seriously they take the Bard’s work. Before they can deal with the addition of a drunken actor, the cast rehearses for three to four weeks as if they were going to perform at The Globe Theatre.

“By the end of the rehearsal process, we’ve got this beautiful piece of classical Shakespearean theatre,” Taylor said and then paused. “It’s such a sad thing because nobody will ever see that play.”

Taylor describes themselves as “a nerd for text” who loves how Shakespeare paints a picture with words. Asked what their former English teachers would think if they saw Shit-faced Shakespeare’s production of Macbeth, Taylor laughed.

“That’s such a good question,” the actor said. “Some of them would be so totally on board with it and some may be a little bewildered and appalled.

“A lot of people probably end up in those seats because they want to see that chaotic, unplanned aspect of the show. However, you'd be so surprised by how many people are just taken off guard by how much they find themselves invested in these ancient texts. There's still a universality to the themes.”

Taylor credits their brother Christian for introducing them to the world of acting. Christian would create videos starring Taylor and their twin Eden. The actor’s first time on stage was sharing the role of The Cheshire Cat with Eden in ALICE IN WONDERLAND.

In one portion of the show, Taylor was hiding behind bushes on one side of the stage and Eden was on the other side. “It looked like one actor was actually teleporting from one side to the other,” Taylor said.

In their junior year of high school, Taylor began exploring the possibility of working in the entertainment industry.

“That year, any spare moment I had, I’d end up in the theater,” Taylor said. “Everyone was choosing a career path but none of their choices sounded appealing to me. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. I thought, ‘This is the thing that makes me joyful. Why not go for it?’

“I’m grateful to have supportive parents (Kevin and Michele). They just wanted me to be happy. They realized that achieving some sort of financial accolade is not necessarily the mark of success.”

Unfortunately, Christian passed away when Taylor was young and never got to see the impact he had on his sibling.

“Losing Christian is what sent me on this path,” they said. “He was passionate about performing, storytelling and making people laugh. I want to do him justice by engaging in that thing we both loved.

“When I find myself in the most humiliating circumstances on stage, I know I’m making people laugh and making people happy and I feel a little bit closer to him.”

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