My overall impression
“Daddy” is the story of two estranged sisters coming together over the death of their father, each facing up to their family’s dark past. The ensemble works well together to deal with this very dark, difficult subject matter in a way that is actually charming at times. The scenes between two sisters, while under the duress of unimaginable circumstances, still felt grounded enough to really see your own sibling issues within the scenes. I thought the character arcs were very interesting. One sister, the sexy redhead, begins the play in a very unlikable state that you warm up to as you see her guard drop. Where as the other “just trying to help” sister transforms from a nurturing, empathetic type into an overbearing, over-imposing person. In a later scenes, there is a conversation about how she is responsible as well for the things that happened in her family, and it really hadn’t occurred to me how true that was until that moment. The characters are very dynamic in that sense, many facets of right and wrong, morally ambiguous at times. The comic relief of the stoner husband was well performed, and particularly the resolution of that plot line was very effective. This is a show full of great performances, and while the subject matter is very intense, they do a nice job sweetening it up with great comic moments. Make sure you put this on your list of second weekend shows to see!
