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Baghdaddy
Congratulations! Your pain is commercially viable.
It's 1991 and the Gulf War rages three thousand, three hundred and twenty miles away. Darlee is 8 years old, crying behind the wheelie bookcase in Miss Stratford's classroom. She's just realised she's Iraqi. Or half. Maybe both.
She saw it on the news last night after Neighbours and fish fingers. Heard the fear slipping through the receiver, saw it oozing from Dad's eyeballs and into the living room as he tried to phone home.
What she can't process now, she'll be haunted by later; the spirits hounding her will make sure of that…
Baghdaddy is a playfully devastating coming-of-age story, told through clowning and memory to explore the complexities of cultural identity, generational trauma and a father-daughter relationship amidst global conflict.
This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at London's Royal Court Theatre in November 2022.
It's 1991 and the Gulf War rages three thousand, three hundred and twenty miles away. Darlee is 8 years old, crying behind the wheelie bookcase in Miss Stratford's classroom. She's just realised she's Iraqi. Or half. Maybe both.
She saw it on the news last night after Neighbours and fish fingers. Heard the fear slipping through the receiver, saw it oozing from Dad's eyeballs and into the living room as he tried to phone home.
What she can't process now, she'll be haunted by later; the spirits hounding her will make sure of that…
Baghdaddy is a playfully devastating coming-of-age story, told through clowning and memory to explore the complexities of cultural identity, generational trauma and a father-daughter relationship amidst global conflict.
This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at London's Royal Court Theatre in November 2022.
- GenresPlays
104 pages, Paperback
Published December 29, 2022
19 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 17, 2022
I was fortunate enough to have watched this at the Royal Court Theatre. It was incredible !! The use of lighting and the nice balance between comedy and the heart-wrenching was awe-inspiring. The way Jones tries to make sense of her duality and her fractured relationship with her father was both heartbreaking and just so damn interesting. The use of flashbacks and flashforwards added to the richness of the play, and the inclusion of the djinns was unique in the best way possible. With questions of identity, home and diaspora being raised, we realise through this play that these questions will never be answered — but the fact that these questions are being discussed in various forms of media, such as through theatre, is so crucial in the West.
If anyone got a chance to watch this timeless play count yourself lucky !! I really hope they stage this again because I’ll be there in a heartbeat !! 🤍🤍
If anyone got a chance to watch this timeless play count yourself lucky !! I really hope they stage this again because I’ll be there in a heartbeat !! 🤍🤍
July 24, 2023
This play is absolutely breathtaking.
The construction—it's Jones' first, and the ingenuity and lack of subscription to stereotypical structure is upheld by such a strong sense of the intricacies a story can spill out through.
Spill until it pours.
My god, read it.
The construction—it's Jones' first, and the ingenuity and lack of subscription to stereotypical structure is upheld by such a strong sense of the intricacies a story can spill out through.
Spill until it pours.
My god, read it.
January 18, 2024
I loved this play so much!!!! Did make me cry but still such an easy read - like I couldn’t put it down
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews