Dad at Golden Goose Theatre, London Review
David Solomon’s new play ‘Dad’ is exactly what you want a night out at the theatre to be - excellent performances, lots of laughs, and some big ol’ plot twists. The show flew by. There wasn’t a moment where we weren’t reacting, where you might start wondering what the time is, so when I realised we were at the end, it caught me off guard!
‘Dad’ is a play which brings together a family of estranged individuals; no one on the stage has spoken to each other in years, and therefore every scene is a bittersweet mix of reconnection and resentment.
The scenes between the three brothers, Nathan [David Solomon], Aaron [Ivan Kaye] and Karl [Nigel Betts] are this play at its best - even where their conflicts seem insurmountable, their shared language and chemistry on stage unite them. They are hard not to sympathise with, even if you don’t always like them - each so crushed by the way their father treated them in different ways. Even in the ever-heightening circumstances of the play, they always understand one another on a basic level. It is also a valuable thing itself to tell a story of three grown men working out how to talk about their trauma with each other, having come from a climate of suppressed emotion.
Solomon’s performance as Nathan holds the performance together; you cannot help but root for him - it’s a character whose essential goodness is never in doubt, without feeling unrealistic. As he continues to be generous to those around him, even as they piss him off, hurt him, and even belittle him for being kind, your respect for his character only grows.
Nathan’s relationship with his son, Daniel, is also very well realised in the short time they are onstage together - creating enough stakes and enough sense of his importance to Nathan for the story to really land. That is what stands out about Solomon’s writing - he can make a relationship feel real and layered within moments of characters getting onstage, so even where the plot points become increasingly extreme, these relationships ground the play.
The entire company give brilliant performances to this end, and one standout for me was Joanne Arber’s performance as Leila because, when she is introduced, her character has been villainised by the others and isn’t presented as someone we sympathise with immediately, but by the end of the story I found I felt for her as much as I felt for Nathan. It was impossible not to when you got to know her circumstances, and if the play were longer, I would love to spend more time getting to know her character.
This is a play which is entirely based on conversations, with characters learning the truth about themselves and each other, so it could risk feeling static without good direction. Brittany Rex’s direction is subtle, makes space for the actors to have fun and be inventive onstage, and stops the play ever feeling like it has a slow moment.
‘Dad’ is on at the Golden Goose Theatre until Saturday 3rd October, and I recommend going to catch it; it’s a great family drama play elevated by the excellent performances given by all of the cast.
★ ★ ★ ★
Written by Jasmine for Theatre and Tonic, September 2026.
