Davis Square Theatre

The theater itself is nice. Small, but it makes it so everyone can see and hear okay. I went last night for a performance of Sh*t Faced Shakespeare. The performance was fantastic! They don’t like it if you use the bathroom during the performance though. After I came out they wouldn’t let me back in and kept hissing at me for having a low conversation with the other folks they wouldn’t let back in. Speaking to us in rude, patronizing voices and telling us «a play was going on.» Um, duh. We know about the play, that’s why we’re here. Anyway, they were annoying enough that I eventually just walked in anyway. After the performance they took my picture and asked me not to come back. Who would’ve thought it mattered when both audience and cast are drunk? I would give this theater and performance five stars but for the self-​righteous hipsters who work there and take the whole thing a little too seriously.

Came for the first time tonight to see Sh*tfaced Shakespeare (also my first but hopefully not the last), and it was all brilliant and hilarious! It’s a smallish space downstairs in what appears to be an older building, but the staff were super friendly and clear and helpful from the start, and seemed well-​trained and experienced. The show was also fantastic and really well done, and the cast were talented and seemed to be enjoying what they were doing, which is always a plus, and it was just totally fab and completely hysterical. Absolutely recommend!

So Davis Square Theatre (DST) and the Saloon, a restaurant and bar on the same floor, both occupy the same building, but are separate businesses. I could see people easily getting confused by this. I came to DST with a few friends to see a friend’s brother perform, which we did, and afterwards, we were led to believe that another band would follow soon after, but we were not expecting that it’d be an hour later. There was no communication by the staff to the audience about this.
Also, the bathroom in the far back of the building was flooded, and even though they had wet floor signs up, there were big puddles, and it didn’t look like there was any attempt of the floor being mopped. I heard my shoes splash in the water before I noticed the wet floor signs. They should have either mopped up the puddles, or block off that bathroom until fixed. Fortunately, they had another bathroom nearby.
I was not impressed with the venue, but I may come back again to give them another try.

This is a fantastic venue to hear music. I saw Scars on 45s there a few days ago and had a great time. The sound was good and the ‘action’ is so close! It was very personal and the band was able to talk with the audience.
The only reason I am not giving it 5 stars is because of the bar tactics. If the rest of the venue wasn’t as enjoyable as it was… I would have given it fewer stars because of the bar tactics.
I ordered a few beers and was told… «$ 15»… so I paid $ 15 and left a $ 2 tip. I thought that was a bit expensive… but was having fun… and paid it.
I ordered a few more beers later… was told «$ 15»… and again paid $ 15 for the beer and $ 2 for the tip.
I went back later and ordered one beer. I was told $ 7 in which I only had $ 6 in cash… so I asked to put it on credit card. When I looked at the receipt, it said (and the numbers may be off a bit) something like «$ 5.18 beer. $ 1.82 gratuity»!
I asked if my previous bunch of drinks was the same way… with gratuity added and was told yes! For two beers! For one beer! The gratuity was already added and not told to me!
Who ever heard of a place adding gratuity to two/​one beer! And not posting it anywhere!!! What a rip off!!! Even after I left the extra $ 2… I was not told!
Is that even legal?

Bartenders were on point. Some of the best mixed drinks I’ve ever had. These drinks were crafted, not thrown together.
Bar gets very crowded very quickly.

First to review? Really y’all?
I guess that my life takes me in some pretty offbeat places; even when those places happen to be right in the middle of everything. This place does feel a little bit secretive, like any good underground theatre should.
Take the hidden staircase towards Saloon. At the bottom instead of turning left, go right and down another hallway. You’ll find the closet sized box office entrance on the left. Once past that you’ll be in the lobby where a closet sized bar boasts a single bartender who will be happy to hand you a beer, pour you a strong drink in a plastic cup and/​or sell you candy.
Enter the theatre stage left, and find a few rows of seats on three sides of a stage which has, literally, been in a different configuration every time I’ve been there. Apparently they like to keep both audiences and performers guessing. If you’re looking for a theatre experience that is something different than mainstream, you should be checking out the options here. Now and into the foreseeable future they are running The Teaseday Club, a cabaret/​burlesque/​variety show, on the second Tuesday of every month.