Baby with the Bathwater

by Christopher Durang

Acting edition.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama, Read For School, Humor, Poetry Plays, Fiction

72 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1984

Reviews

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christopher Durang's Baby with the Bathwater is a twisted delight probably best appreciated by those who have been in contact with well meaning but selfish and truly terrible parents. But then I think most of us have known the sort of people being sent up here.

At several points Durang almost crosses into surrealism, with a demented take on the Mary Poppins nanny tradition, a mother whose mood can change at the drop of a phrase, and a permanently self-medicated father. But I think he always pulls back just in time, finding some emotional truth just as the demented jokes nearly take charge completely.

The jokes are darkly hilarious: I loved the sad mother who fed her baby to the dog, reading to the baby from Mommy Dearest, and the therapist who constantly cuts off young Daisy as he tries to cope with the fallout from his upbringing.

It would take a gifted director and actors to make this play more than just wacky. I think a lot of people might go mainly for the jokes and just end up with an offensive production that doesn't say anything much about real parenting. The trick would be to make the parents sympathetic and believably well meaning despite their mood swings and utter cluelessness.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm getting more used to Durang's absurdism but there are times I want to smack his plays for delving into the "random = good."

[Jandi Linde · Rating 5 out of 5]

funniest play i have ever read

[Hailey Stoner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d give it more of a 3.5 stars but the balance of the comedy and then seeing how the “comedic” parenting practices have fucked up Daisy as an adult were top notch

[Onenick_jr · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

[gabs · Rating 5 out of 5]

i related to this a little too much, im gonna need to recover for a long time

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know who Christopher Durang is, but I'm not terribly familiar with his work. I wasn't into this one - too zany for my taste.

[Maddy HB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect gallows humor story that will make you laugh out loud. Layered, thought provoking, timely and a model in critiquing modernity without being acerbic

[Kira Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

November 25, 2025 / pure Gold. I need to find a physical copy to buy

[Jared Della Rocca · Rating 2 out of 5]

So when I start reading these books/novels/screenplays/whatever format they may be, I try not to read any synopses or the student’s review of the books in advance. I don’t want to know what’s going to happen or be “tainted” in any way to what I’m going to read. But when I got to the end of Baby with the Bathwater, I thought that I must have missed something entirely! It was just so weirdly strange. But then I read Isabella’s review and realized, NOPE—I didn’t miss anything! That’s exactly why she recommended this book. And now knowing that I shouldn’t expect any deep, insightful wisdom—-it was a VERY quirky book :-) And the review is dead on—it’s totally appropriate for the world of Bennington students!

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Durang is a fantastic writer who injects dark humor into his writing so well that he makes it look easy. A great piece that will go down as one of Durang's best. I have to say though that the baby abuse jokes were a tad bit tired out by the time I had gotten to this one, having a couple of weeks before reading this piece seen another play of Durang's with infant abuse and death, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, where dead baby jokes and a pregnant woman chain smoking make up some of the flavor of the piece. I enjoyed reading this play, I just felt it was as if I was hearing a joke I'd heard before.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Open your mind and enjoy this play. Remember that Durang doesn't write conventional plays that will appeal to everyone. It's dark, it's odd, it's absurdly unexpected. That's the appeal of the playwright, and he doesn't apologize for it.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird, as it is meant to be, but it still speaks about how we need to get past the obstacles that life throws at us.

[Chambers Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the very first play I ever directed.
Hilariously funny.
So glad that Durang won the Tony this year.
He so deserves it.

[Rebecca Paget · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the style of humour

[Misti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crazy, funny, and sad.