Written By: Maddie Christensen
The last day at the Fringe was a gloomy day. But what cheered it up though was the performance I was able to see called Decree Absolute Vodka by Sarah Iles. When we saw the name, we immediately thought it was a performance about vodka. But it took a surprising turn when we found out that it was about Sarah’s recent divorce. The way that this comedian performed was through her own deep personal story that brought a lot of chaos into her life.
She explained that she was in the 9th stage of divorce. The 9th stage being the last one. As she kept going, it started to make me think about the divorce I had to go through. I was just six when my parents had gotten a divorce. She was explaining all that she went through through each step and it kept making me think back to, “Oh! That kinda happened to me too! Just in a different way”.
As a comedian, you could tell that she was comfortable with what had happened since the divorce. She would say something like, “My husband was the only one I was ever with for 12 years so it made me want to explore. Even though my therapist voted against it”. She made her story out to be funny, serious, and dirty. She explained that she called this performance Decree Absolute Vodka because of the fact that she would drink bottles of Vodka at a time throughout the stages. She started to see a therapist who she was matched to and explained she needed help from not drinking in a social-able manner. But as of now, she has been able to accept that her story has not come to an end yet. Although she is happy with what she has right now, and according to her, “My married therapist of 28 years only kept me longer than necessary only because of my sex stories.”
I have never been to see a comedian before so this was a new experience for me. She was extremely witty and fun. The venue that we were at was pretty small and crammed but she made it out to be apart of her performance; taking advantage of the tiny space. She engaged the audience with Family Fortune game, (in America: Family Feud), and split us up in to two teams.
It was a very short performance but I was able to fully engage and enjoy myself throughout. There was never a moment where my attention was swayed to something else. This performance makes me want to go see more of the comedian performance styles in the future. If she ever has another show, I would definitely see it and recommend to others.