Debbie Does My Dad

What must it be like having a porn star for a father? One man who knows this all too well is playwright Bobby Gordon, who brings this surprisingly intimate portrayal of a unique father and son relationship to the Fringe.

Debbie Does My Dad intelligently explores issues of contemporary masculinity. We follow Bobby's development from childhood as he has to grapple with feelings of inadequacy, of failing to meet up to an image of manhood that he doesn't even like in the first place, and with sexual immaturity. But it's when Bobby starts to question why his father became a porn star that the play becomes really quite poignant. It just doesn't make sense why this genuinely loving man would chose to make a living out of an industry reknowned for its cynical, exploitative and mysogynistic view of women. 

However, Debbie Does My Dad does fall down a bit when it strays away from the personal and into the political. In this realm, it is a little over reliant on the types of cliché that have been bandied about ever since David Beckham first put on a sarong and popularised the term "metrosexual". While its heart is undeniably in the right place, during these segments the play feels a tad too preachy. It also suffers from a little over-exhuberance, both in terms of the writing and elements of Gordon's performance, but not to the extent that it infringes upon one's enjoyment of what is ultimately a very charming and very personal piece of confessional theatre.