A Review...

Daddy

Devised and presented by Andy Dobb & Jack Burrows

Create Theatre Thursday 18th July 7.30pm


Two good friends decide that they are going to create a piece of theatre based upon their experiences of being and wanting to be a father. The result was presented to a small but appreciative audience, in a sweltering hot studio at The Create Theatre last night.

The piece was well structured and the journey was easy to follow as they discussed the very real and honest path they had trod in reaching their relative positions as a Daddy in Residence and Daddy in Waiting.

Presented as a work in progress, scripts in hand, Dobb and Burrows occasionally lost their way but I didn’t care because I knew, that they knew, what they were doing.

The very brave decision these two men had taken was to open their hearts to the world, to share their real and sometimes brutally honest story with us but to do so laced with physical humour, terrible puns and some real laugh out loud moments.

I will not divulge the exact content of the piece as that would destroy the chance of any future audiences  responding to the power of the piece, and have no doubt it has real power and tremendous potential.

This would not be a ‘Drew Review’ if I did not offer some criticism.

My first criticism would be about the pace and timing. I know this would come with rehearsal so I’m not going to dwell on that.


My second and final criticism is - it may have benefitted from an external eye.

Not to tell them what to say or how to say it but to offer the unbiased perspective of the audience thereby allowing them to further explore the themes in play. With such an emotional  piece, such a personal piece, it must be hard to be totally self critical all of the time.

For example, I would have pushed this piece to be even more gritty in the dramatic sections as I felt there was a slight pulling back on occasion from really hitting the audience with what were some very uncomfortable truths.

Overall, I loved it, I found it funny and moving and it touched some very real emotions within my own experiences of life. I know this was equally true for other audience members.

I hope that Andy Dobb and Jack Burrows do make progress with the piece and that a wider audience get to see these two talented men continue their ‘Daddy’ journeys.

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Personal Comments: As an aside, the audience contained many other ‘actors’ some of whom offered feedback after the show.  I found this part of the evening particularly uncomfortable and some of the comments were ill judged.

I will state for the record that Andy Dobb and Jack Burrows are on a different planet, no in a different acting galaxy to some of the amateur and apparently theatrically ignorant folk who tried to tell them how to improve their show.

After seeing them work in this piece and taking into account the brilliant work they did with The Odd Couple, I would go as far as to say that they are the preeminent theatrical performers in Mansfield.

I have seen nothing better than the work they continue to do and look forward to pushing them even harder when we start work on Drag Queens On Trial.

(Obviously I am in a galaxy of my own too, a very special galaxy far far away.  I also wish to exclude Rob from my analogy as well as Ed and his mum, plus Vicky and any other nice people who kept their opinions to themselves and just said well done to two splendid lads).

Finally a word for Natalie and Lauren - thank you.