"Da": A Play [Paperback]

Hugh Leonard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1978

Hugh Leonard's classic play, reissued for a new season at Dublin's Abbey Theatre

Dublin, the 1960s. After Da's funeral, Charlie returns to his childhood home only to find his father's ghost stubbornly unwilling to leave the house or his son's mind. As the events of Charlie's youth and Da's troubled relationship with Mother are replayed, we discover the darkly comic, bittersweet relationship that existed between father and son.

Da won the Tony award for Best Play in 1978

Published to tie in with the revival of the play at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in July 2002

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A beguiling play about a son's need to come to terms with his father and himself. In a class with the best of Sean O'Casey."—The New York Times

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum; 1st edition (October 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689705808
• ISBN-13: 978-0689705809
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,872,563 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Leonard at his best., August 18, 2000

By 

Sailoil - See all my reviews

This review is from: "Da": A Play (Paperback)

This is a wonderful play in which Leonard explores his relationship with his Da (a Dublin boys name for his father, pronounced with an "a" as in "at" and not as in "all") It was made into a film starring Martin Sheen, and that is best avoided. The character of Leonard as a boy with his father, and as an older man, returned for his father's funeral are played on stage by the same actor, who switches cleverly between the two roles. At one moment he is a wide eyed child who hangs on every word of his father, believing without question and revering his Da. Then he is the cynical and jaded older man, who cannot fathom the limitations and stupidity of both his younger self and his father. In the end however, we see a picture of a man who needs to reconcile himself with his father and does so through this play in a way that is passionate and personal.