The sublime & ridiculous meet the divine & profane in Be Always Drunken (In Vino Veritas)

Be always drunken.
Nothing else matters:
that is the only question.
If you would not feel
the horrible burden of Time
weighing on your shoulders
and crushing you to the earth,
be drunken continually.
Drunken with what?
With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you will.
But be drunken… – Charles Baudelaire

So opens Pubcrawl Theatre’s Be Always Drunken (In Vino Veritas), created and performed by Teige Reid, who recently performed the solo, multi-character show at the Social Capital Theatre for one performance only last night.

Confessional. Absurd. Poignant. Hilariously irreverent. Bartender Seamus is our host at the Empty Glass pub, and Reid weaves his way through several denizens of the tired old place. Reid is a master of character, dialect and storytelling – and for those of you who haven’t yet met Rory MacFadden, you’re in for a— Well, you’re in for it. I had the pleasure of interviewing both Reid and MacFadden for the blog last year.

This was my third time seeing Be Always Drunken; I’d seen Reid perform the show in 2012 and 2013 at The Fox & Fiddle Wellesley – and I see something new every time. A nuance, an inflection, a gesture – and there’s a lovely bit at the end that shifts into improv. There’s not really much more I can say – check out the links to my previous posts on the show.

The sublime and the ridiculous meet the divine and profane in Teige Reid’s Be Always Drunken (In Vino Veritas). Keep your eyes peeled for the next performance at a pub near you.

In the meantime, check out this Rory rant – this is included in the show – and check out Reid’s YouTube channel while you’re at it: