Jake Mace
We’re invited to make new memories with Michael John Ciszewski, through cathartically dancing on the scorched earth of a Queer youth that he self-admittedly (spent) totally wasted. Sobriety and the journey towards it is at the beating heart of Ciszewski’s sympathetic, purging comedy hour. He delivers it with candour and polish, and is equal parts engrossing storyteller as he is whip-smart comic. Salient and soul-filling, this is an invite you’ll struggle to refuse.
Memory sits at the centre of the piece, with stories from Ciszewski’s hedonistic twenties intersected by moments of spoken word voiceover which Michael John appears to diegetically ingest through a Sony Walkman and earphones. These sections leave the whole affair with a more pensive aura, with the tone of the voiceovers emulating self-help courses and utilising philosophy. They come across as quite genuinely profound, and thankfully not overly intense, instead framing Ciszewski’s stories neatly as an hour culminating in catharsis and revelation.
We’re not sold any cheap tricks or shortcuts to sobriety in Ciszewski’s stories, instead he offers us his unique lens on the journey he’s been through. A non-judgemental lens, that asks us to consider where we are in our relationship with intoxication, through some truly remarkable antics he undertook while drinking, and also as we see him reach rock bottom.
Ciszewski has an uncanny knack for making light of his behaviour in the stories, rather than glorifying them as mighty escapades we see the vulnerable man emerging from a party scene to find his Gay identity in a world outside of the constant drinking, and spending, drinking to spend again, and spending to drink again.
He holds the room like putty for the hour, with stories that cover all ends of hedonism, beginning with a hilarious attempted impression of Bradley Cooper in A Star is Born and taking us through a cavalcade of Queer iconography and milestones that Ciszewski experienced over what he describes as his “7 year bender”. His delivery is sharp, and refined, and you feel immediately in the hands of a professional storyteller from when you take your seat. There’s not a moment wasted, not a stone left unturned, and as Michael John celebrates his fifth year of sobriety he reminds us that those who come to be a part of his journey by watching this show leave an imprint also.
The last sections of the piece in particular could do with a slight bit of trimming down, as it feels like we reach the rising crescendo of celebrating this sober moment a little too soon, and the last couple of minutes add little that hasn’t already been explored. That, I suppose in itself, is testimony to the thoroughness and elation that the performer has in exploring this moment, telling his story, keeping us captivated.
I was wow’ed by how slick, sensitive and deeply enjoyable this hour of comedy-storytelling was. Michael John asks us to imagine a world where Queer identities can have sincere and impassioned form outside of the club and the quick hook-up, but never denies their place in his journey to a place of clarity and understanding now.
Recommended Drink: A virgin frozen margarita – crisp, zesty, refreshing.
Catch Michael John Ciszewski: If Memory Serves until August 25th at Just The Tonic – Just The Snifter Room from 12:35. Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.
Phoebe Bakker
