Plus One Party Report: ShakesBEER, The Haunted Edition

I maintain that there is little on earth more awesome than the combination of booze, and The Bard. This week’s Haunted ShakesBEER, hosted at Amity Hall and produced by The New York Shakespeare Exchange, did nothing but prove my theory.

Here are five other fun things about Haunted ShakesBEER:

• It was creepy. No, for real. You can ask Jesse over at Stage-Rush—I was practically crawling into his lap trying to get away from the creepy witches/ghosts as they prowled the bar. Next time, I won’t be sitting on an “aisle” seat, of that you can be sure.
• There were even more cute boys! I know, you’re shocked I noticed them. I never do that! ANYWAY. Last time, we got Harry Barandes as Iago. This time, King John fave Zac Hoogendyk and his beautiful blue eyes were there, first playing Hamlet, and later, a zombie-fied Banquo’s Ghost. But Zac was not alone. He was joined in the @ShakesExchange hottie hall of fame by the deeply handsome Dana Watkins, who played Caesar. He had me at long floppy hair, and then he was actually talented. Clearly I’m a goner.
• Speaking of Caesar. When you’ve been drinking beer pretty steadily for a few hours, the scene where Calpurnia drops to her knees before Caesar and begs him to stay home… HILARIOUS. Filthy dirty, ripe for blowjob jokes, and hilarious. I’m not sure I was supposed to be laughing, but that’s one of my favorite things about ShakesBEER—it’s a totally different way to experience Shakespeare, and it showcases the material in fun, modern ways you’d never expect.
• Vince Gatton wasn’t in the show, but he was there, and he was killing us with his impression of Nick Jonas as Marius, looking to the Lord and singing “A Little Fall of Rain.” Gatton should think about musicals. Or stand-up.
• Per usual, ShakesBEER made excellent use of the space in Amity Hall, with actors disappearing and reappearing up and down staircases all over the place, or seeming to materialize magically from amongst the bar crowd. It’s so exciting—and in this case, creepy, too—to never know where the next excellent performance is going to come from.