Daddy | Studio Underground | til Mar 6 | ★ ★ ★ ★ ½
Daddy’s opening night began with a beautifully enriched Welcome to Country by Vaughn McGuire, who sang the story of the trap-door spider, a beacon of unity. McGuire spoke of his father, who would say that he wrote seven novels (in his seven children) and that everything we pass on is a story to enrich the lives of each generation.
Nothing more profound could have kicked off Joel Bray’s Daddy, a story of heart, heritage, and homosexuality. Bray is a proud Wiradjuri man, trained at NAISDA and WAAPA, who has a penchant for producing works for intimate encounters in unorthodox spaces, inviting audiences as co-storytellers.
Daddy entices audiences with charisma, humour, and individuality. With beginning imagery akin to Aphrodite and Cupid, it is no wonder the simple originals of the idea for Daddy; with Bray saying:
“[Daddy] … has had a long and meandering journey. It began with a fascination with the Ancient Greek myth of Tantalus. That sense of having your desires dangled in front of you only to have them snatched out of reach seems a deeply familiar one.”
Joel Bray intricately weaves the here-and-now through choreography, spoken narrative, and interaction. Able to speak on dark truths, history, and personal hurdles in a technicolour, bubble-gum soundscape. Though originally planned to be a piece where Bray pushed bricks from one side of the space, to the other, he breathes this action into the dense, staccato movements of the piece.
Joel Bray beautifully conducts the space, and his audience, as we all navigate social commentary, millennial dating, the self-flagellation of the queer community and standards, and the hunt for identity. At its climax, Bray stuns audiences with a powerful monologue of his past. As Bray fights for his “blackness” in a society that deems him too white, a product of their colonialization.
The silence afterwards was palpable, stoic, sombre, and electric. Joel Bray artfully articulates throughout Daddy his journey for language, acceptance, and love – whilst ending on a literal sweet note, with a semi-naked Joel Bray being coated in chocolate, marshmallows, hundred’s-and-thousand’s, and whipped cream by the audience!
Daddy is an amalgamation of physical and philosophical theatre, thoughtfully erotic, and provocatively sensational – making it a deliciously queer staple for the season. Be sure to follow Joel Bray on Instagram @joelbraydance to keep up to date on his many works, future productions, and current ticketing information.
Daddy is running at the State Theatre Centre of WA’s Studio Underground until Sunday March 6. Tickets and more information available from perthfestival.com
Joshua Hall Haines is an arts and entertainment writer with two BAs in Media & Communications and Arts Management from WAAPA. Joshua has worked in the film and television space as a producer and production designer — but always circles back to writing, having self-published a queer mystery novella in 2018. Joshua also freelances as a publicist, copywriter, and publisher. More of his work can be found @joshlhaines on Instagram.
Image: Court McAllister
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