I have walked past the Lion Theater on Wabash Street hundreds of town without noticing the entrance, the sign above it, or the play inside.

Finally, I made my way inside to see "Drunk Shakespeare."

The premise: A group of actors perform a play by William Shakespeare. They switch between a faithful adaptation of the bard's script and off-color humor. The twist is that one of the performers publicly downs four shots of whisky before the play begins. He drinks a few more during the night, becoming progressively more drunk and sloppy. "You cannot spell 'bard' without 'bar'," announces the Master of Ceremonies.

Tonight's performance more or less followed WS's script for "Macbeth"; but the cast interjected plenty of jokes into the mix.

The performers often break the figurative fourth wall, interacting with the audience, sometimes flirting or telling raunchy jokes. This was easy to do as the audience sat on benches along the long narrow stage, making it difficult to separate the performers from the observers.

The show was funny enough without adding the gimmick of one drunk actor. It was one more joke, and while amusing, it was far from the funniest part of the evening. I am not convinced that he was consuming alcohol. The shots he downed could have been anything. But a schtick is a schtick, and this one did not detract from the show.

"Drunk Shakespeare" is part scripted, part improv, and all fun.

I enjoyed this show more than I expected I would.