Writer: Adam Lazarus
Director: Alexandra Rizkallah
Cristiano Benfenati is absolutely incredible in this one-man show about an overly protective father living in Canada. Daughter begins in a sickly-sweet manner when Benfenati, butterfly wings on his back, bursts onto stage to show off his young daughter’s dance moves, all to the music of her favourite tracks. He even persuades the audience to clap along to the beat, but this effervescent and ignominious start completely hides the dark, disturbing material to come.
The shift is gradual, making it even more chilling when the horrors are finally revealed. At first, we like this father. He’s affable. A bit of a dork, sure, with more than a dollop of schoolboy humour. He appears to be a decent man, a loving father. Hints of self-centredness appear when he relates his daughter’s birth, but the story is so funny with its discussions of hypno-birthings and angry doulas that we almost don’t catch his conceitedness and lack of empathy for his wife. And then, in a flash, as the story switches to the urgent – the birth is a hard one – we have nothing but sympathy for him.
On a bare stage with bright lights, Benfenati dashes around, offering parts of his history from schoolboy to husband to father. Incrementally, the stories become more uncomfortable to listen to. And yet, there is comedy here, too. But it becomes more difficult to laugh at his tales. He’s obviously an unreliable narrator. We understand his frustrations as a young father battling with self-deprivation while dealing with a daughter who wakes up seven times a night wanting attention. However, his solutions are frightening.
Benfenati often asks the audience for their opinion, sometimes sitting next to someone to enquire if they know the difference between an ‘orgy’ and a ‘gangbang’. These moments are awkward and unsettling, breaking up the play’s atmosphere, and initially, they appear unnecessary to the theatrical experience. However, they begin to work in their very discomfort, complementing the increasingly distressing subject matters.
Director Alexandra Rizkallah trusts in Adam Lazarus’s script and Benfenati’s performance and so there is need for bells and whistles, for no extra stagecraft. Masculinity as a subject for theatre is commonplace now, but Benfenati is compelling and terrifying, raising the stakes to a new level. Daughter Is visceral theatre.
Runs until 7 February 2026
