MacShrek: The Comedy of Ogres at Orlando Fringe Credit: Courtesy Photo

Orlando Fringe has seen far more than its faire share of mashups between the Bard and the big screen, and MacShrek is easily the goofiest and greenest since Shakespeare’s Ghostbusters in 2018. Writer Justin M.G. Hughes (who embodies the titular ogre in verdant vest and theme park headband ears) has dressed up the plot of the first film from DreamWorks’ meme-generating franchise with RenFest-ready garb, and recruited a half-dozen of the best Elizabethan players he could find on short notice.

Using clever rhyming couplets and occasionally inconsistent iambic pentameter, this adaptation leans as much on Hamlet as it does on the Scottish Play, while roping in a bi-curious Falstaff as Lord Farquad, turning Princess Fiona into Twelfth Night’s Viola (with the attitude of Taming of the Shrew’s Katherina), and dubbing Midsummer’s Bottom into Donkey (natch). MacShrek also owes a spiritual debt to Monty Python and EPCOT’s old World Showcase Players, with a game cast that fully invests in farcical foolishness like random 1980s references to Michael Jackson and Say Anything.  

This the kind of spoofy show where the Dragon wears cardboard wings and yells, “Fearsome roar!” instead of just roaring, and the hero farts during an impassioned soliloquy; yet it’s also surprisingly smart and sharply performed, with tight comic timing almost all the way through (save for some brief, ill-advised audience interaction). Katherine Stevens earns a nod as the Terry Gilliam of the group, standing out as Thelonius and other supporting roles, and Hughes’ climactic spin on The Merchant of Venice was actually quite stirring. Best of all: In this Shrek, there is no Smash Mouth!

New Players Co. (Oviedo, FL)
Yellow Venue, Lowndes Shakespeare Center
60 minutes; 7 and up
Tickets: $15

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This article appears in Orlando Fringe 2026.