Daddy: A Melodrama

by Jeremy O. Harris

Genres: Plays

171 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 2019

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, rounded up.

Harris made a huge splash with his debut work Slave Play, and was touted as the next big thing in theatre. This, his second play to be produced received mixed reviews, but suffers from some of the same defects as the earlier work - far too much verbal psychoanalyzing of the characters and their motivations, and one rather simplistic idea stretched to the breaking point (here, almost three hours' worth). Still, I would have loved to have seen either the NY or London productions, since I doubt there will be many future ones.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/th...
https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/th...
https://variety.com/2019/legit/review...
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/202...
https://clewisreviews.medium.com/revi...

[Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

sexy play- hope to see it one day

[Lex Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars rounded

I'm not entirely sure on how to feel about this play so I'm going to use this review as a way of sorting through my thoughts.

As someone in a relationship with an age gap, approached this play with my guard up a bit. Was this going to be another play about a sinister older man praying on a younger man with daddy issues? But I also thought, if anyone can be more nuanced than that, its Jeremy O. Harris.

And the relationship in the play is complicated. Are there serious daddy issues at play? Yes, plenty. Are Andre's motives questionable? Totally. And for that, I'm still a little hesitant but there is definitely more at play here.

Ultimately this is a play about ownership and beauty, as mirrored through the various discussions on art and the ownership of it. There's an interesting power play between Andre and Zora over who 'owns' Franklin, both blaming each other and suggesting that the other is dangerous for Franklin and to blame for his regression. And that is where the play shines especially in the final act, where we pull back the curtain and suggest that (and forgive my rudimentary phrasing of this) Franklin held the power all along, manipulating both Zora and Andre in recreating a kind of Freudian family that praises him as a work of art. I think Harris subverts our expectations of a 'daddy/son' relationship here, suggesting that Franklin was the one to own Andre.

That being said, I don't know if this play works perfectly. There are a lot of ideas going on and the regression of Franklin from adult to child to being reborn an adult again is intentionally uncomfortable however I'm not sure it quite works. Maybe it reads better on stage. The play, as is stated in the title, is a melodrama and it certainly is. My question however is 'why'? What would this story look like without it? What does it bring?

In short, I need to reread this and I want to know as much about the writing and production of this play as I can to fully understand it. At the end of the day, the play certainly moved me in some kind of way and I think Jeremy O Harris continues to be one of the most interesting plays in contemporary American theatre, even if his works can be a little messy

[Corvyn Appleby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I genuinely think "Slave Play" is maybe the best American play of the past decade, but "Daddy" has me struggling to say that Jeremy O. Harris is the best playwright of the decade. Unlike SP, the psychosexuality here serves as just one of the many convenient devices that Harris deploys in service of a handful of disparate themes - devices made redundant by the need to textually lay out each of the themes in the simplest terms imaginable. The laugh lines in this 2019 play can be interpreted as either being already painfully dated or being a hardcore instance of cringe comedy; either way, I can't get with the humor here. Maybe "Daddy" coheres well on stage, but just like the lyrics to George Michael's "Father Figure", I just can't see it in the pages of the script.

[Zanden Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did not really care for Act One but Act Two took such a great turn that the rest of this really clicked with me. Not as "Provocative" as Slave Play but almost more umm confrontational? I think if I was a certain type of person I could consider this offensive in the way Art often is. I'm really excited to read water sports.

[Mathilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting play. Zora’s read of Andre might be the most compelling thing in the play on the first read. I think it will stand the test of time and may have more intensity in a few years. To be loved is to be seen? Is it possible to fully be?

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this. So creative, and you can see the play in your head as you're reading it. The coolest thing Jeremy O. Harris does (and maybe other playwrights do too?) is use "/" to show characters talking over other each other as real people do. I feel like I have seen this live.

[Aleigha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️’s

[Efin · Rating 4 out of 5]

with the title
I thought
it was gonna be
wattpad smutt
but this play
was written so
goddamn beautifully

[Mackenzie Wilcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant brilliant brilliant