Book Reviews and More: Bottoms Up Everyone! Something Rotten Stratford Festival 2026 A Review

Thursday, 27 August 2026

Bottoms Up Everyone! Something Rotten Stratford Festival 2026 A Review

Bottoms Up Everyone!

A Review of Something Rotten Stratford Festival 2026 by a 15 year old.

Something Rotten

2026

Stratford Festival

Book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O'Farrell

Music and Lyrics by Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick

Conceived by Karey Kirkpatrick and Wayne Kirkpatrick

Directed by Donna Feore

Choreographed by Donna Feore

Music Director Laura Burton

Set and Costume Designer Michael Gianfrancesco

Lighting Designer Bonnie Beecher

Sound Designer Haley Parcher

Fight and Intimacy Director Anita Nittoly

Executive Producer David Auster

Creative Planning Director Jason Miller

Casting Directors Beth Russell and Ari Weinberg

This 2026 review will be a little different. I had blown out my knee and could not make the trip. Fortunately friends had tickets the same day and took my son 18, and daughter 15 with them. We had purchased ticket for 5 performances this year, I am very thankful they were able to make it. So her in her own words, my daughter’s review:

Bottoms up everyone!

It’s time for the 2026 season's review of Strafford’s Festival Something Rotten however, this time it’s a little different because right now you are reading the works of me, Z.E. McEvoy (the youngest daughter) and not my dad’s work. Unfortunately, my dad was unable to attend the show with us due to an injury but to still feel included we decided I would write a review instead!

Something Rotten is a musical comedy about two brothers trying to rip off Shakespeare's next best show. This performance is immediately engaging with the opening number “Welcome To The Renaissance" which starts off by bringing you right into the story and mind-set of the show and the time period it takes place in, especially with the details in the costumes, which I’m sure you’ve heard of my love for before. This show has many tips and Easter eggs to other contemporary performances like Annie, Phantom of the Opera, Hamilton, Les Mis, and many others and they always managed to be at the most perfect moment to make everyone in the crowd laugh. From the costumes, to musical numbers, and every show piece in between my total and complete attention was on the stage.

As someone who often struggles to stay focussed during long shows I was blown away by how captivating every moment was so that I couldn’t bear to look away for a minute. As the story follows the Bottom brothers, we are also given many varying references to the bard’s other works before Hamlet. This made the show progress very smoothly and gave a funny nod to Shakespeare. Though some of the characters may not have liked each other, the cast did an incredible job at building the roles to be something which made everyone feels the joy that they had throughout the entire show.

With all that being said, this was another amazing performance put on at Strafford which I would hands down go see again in a heartbeat, so if you get the chance to, I’d highly recommend seeing it.

My son and I had seen the production 2 years ago and loved it. I am glad the kids got to see it. And am hoping that budget and timing will work to get to see it before the end of the season.

Note: Photos by David Hou/Stratford Festival or our own.