Review by Steve Bennett

I Can Drink Puddles is a show about the curse of alcoholism, the addiction that is almost socially acceptable, yet ruins so many promising lives. And how many comedians have first-hand knowledge of this powerfully destructive lifestyle.

Not Sarah D, for one, as she admits in a casual aside halfway through her show, that despite its alleged first-hand viewpoint, that this is all a fiction. What a vacuous, cynical exercise, it all is, then.

Even before that giveaway, you might have guessed, since this is a performance very light on insight. It opens with her sprawled across the floor after a heavy night, clad in a shonky Wonder Woman outfit and a heavy air of regret – before she muses on ‘her’ problem and how booze, though used as an escape, can become a prison.

From here, the show is as random, shambolic and unintelligible as any drunken conversation. Why, for instance, does she keep going into dance breaks? A subsequent Google reveals Sarah D is a dance teacher in her day job, perhaps that’s it – though they have no relevance to the story. But there’s no such explanation for the dreary, out-of-key rendition of a Queen song.

There are also raps performed without any conviction, awkward audience interaction in the form of a stilted game show, and various examples of her character work. She’s not a bad actress, to be fair, and some of these sketches have kernels of funny in them – but the show’s an absolute mess.

Other than ‘too much booze is bad’ it’s unclear what she’s trying to say about anything that requires her to have an opinion, such as the religious aspect of Alcoholics Anonymous. Why she tackled this subject, and did so in such a muddled way, is a mystery. She ought to seek professional help – not from an addiction therapist, but a director.

Review date: 13 Apr 2012
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival