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Daniel's Husband

 
Richard Beck Review by Richard Beck 5 Published: 12 Dec 2025 Multiple Venues Show Dates: 4 Dec 2025-10 Jan 2026

If you’re looking for a master class in dramatic construction, performance and direction, it has arrived at the Marylebone Theatre in Michael McKeever’s hit Off-Broadway play, Daniel’s Husband, for Plastered Productions. The superb casting by Arthur Carrington allows director Alan Souza to draw out all the emotional intensity of the play with distinctly drawn characters and dialogue that is engaging throughout the five-scene structure.

A master class in dramatic construction, performance and direction

Before becoming immersed in the story, however, sit in awe of Justin Williams’s chic set: a stunning apartment dominated by walls in British racing green, straight out of Farrow & Ball, with occasional tables, sofas and bookcases. He should do a sideline in interior design. People would be queuing up. It is all sensitively lit by Jamie Platt in amber hues with hidden lights on every shelf. The gay couple who live here also have a record player and Sarah Weltman captures its sounds perfectly in her design. There are soothing tunes throughout and some delightful cabaret-style piano as a mood-setting introduction.

Scene one opens with the guys enjoying a relaxing after-dinner drink with arms wrapped around shoulders. Friendly chat ensues and we enjoy the camaraderie of the evening. Joel Harper-Jackson’s Daniel exudes confidence as a successful architect and plays the perfect host. Luke Fetherston, as Mitchell, his partner of seven years, and in Daniel’s mind would-be husband, is an author who is happy to make plenty of money out of popular gay fiction rather than pursue a literary career for less. He’s relaxed and sociable. Between them there is only one taboo subject, that of marriage. Daniel is desperate to wed. Mitchell refuses to accept the idea of gay people subscribing to heteronormative traditions. Nevertheless, the issue keeps raising its ugly head and is central to the plot.

Joining in the exchanges are their friends. Barry is the oldest member of the group and Mitchell’s agent. David Badella’s charm and maturity entirely suit the role of a man whose professional wisdom works well for him in business, but whose craving for twinks and at least a twenty-year age gap has not served him well. Witness Trip, who adoringly sits beside him. Raiko Gohara has some wonderful lines that illustrate the eras in which they grew up and he delivers them with a youthful naivety that gains a number of laughs. Trip’s serious side is the work he does as a home-care provider. Meanwhile, with some disagreements, the mood has become a little tense.

Scene two opens with the dreaded arrival of Daniel’s mother, the control freak, complete with suitcase. The week proves stressful and argumentative, but Liza Savoy’s Lydia is not one for compromise. She sternly plays the woman who is not to be messed with or contradicted. She holds her deceased husband in low esteem, whereas Daniel holds him in the highest regard and despises his mother for having held him back from an outstanding career as an artist. He has one of his large abstract paintings on the wall we don’t see, which he refuses to take down in order to appease her.

Once she leaves, the startling event occurs that will change the course of everyone’s life. While no one could have seen that coming, the foreshadowing of the previous scenes now falls into place and the subsequent events, while having some inevitability to them, entertain in their unfolding and detail. Monologues from Daniel and Mitchell, a scene apart, provide a balanced and refreshing stylistic change of mood from the otherwise intense dialogue. The end of the final scene brings a surprising, but very neat rounding off of the story. Have tissues at the ready; you might very well cry.

If you’re seeing no other play as a culmination to your year of enjoying theatre, fit this one in or kick-start 2026 with it. Everything about it suggests it has a huge future ahead of it and you want to be able to say you saw it here.

Amir Nisi

Richard Beck

A graduate in theology and education, Richard acted and contributed to dance, drama and music productions throughout his teaching career. He joined Broadway Baby in 2014 and is now our Editor-in-Chief. He usually disappears to warmer climes for the winter to pursue his passion for travel.

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The Blurb:

Daniel and Mitchell live a meticulously curated life; they have successful careers, a beautifully appointed home, devoted friends, and a profound love for one another.  But an unexpected crisis jeopardises their boundlessly bright future, shaking the foundation of their relationship and testing the strength of their devotion.  Making its UK debut, Daniel’s Husband is an unflinching look at the nature of commitment and the complexities of our intricately layered beliefs.

An unflinching look at the nature of love. Daniel’s Husband asks us among other things to consider where our strongest convictions live: in our hearts or in our minds.

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