Photo: Craig Fuller
Writer: Michael McKeever
Director: Alan Souza
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At a time when same sex couples have become able to get married in most Western territories, it seems that many others are losing interest in matrimony. This irony is not lost in American playwright Michael McKeever’s 2022 play, Daniel’s Husband, receiving its United Kingdom premiere here.
The writer took a scalpel to the hypocrisy of Hollywood in The Code, seen in London earlier this year, and he now cuts just as deep to probe the institution of marriage, coming up with observations that should resonate regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
Daniel (Joel Harper-Jackson) and Mitchell (Luke Fetherston) have been together for seven years, living in Daniel’s spacious city apartment. They are, effectively, a married couple, except that Mitchell, a successful writer who has sold his soul to the dollar to churn out romantic fiction (“a gay Barbara Cartland”), does not believe in marriage. Daniel argues that getting married would honour the long fight by the LGBT+ community for equality, but Mitchell counters that being allowed to marry is not sufficient reason for actually doing it; in his view, leaving aside legal and tax considerations, marriage is nothing more than a meaningless piece of paper.
The play begins with the couple hosting a dinner party for Mitchell’s literary agent, Barry (David Bedella) and the latest in his long line of much younger boyfriends, Trip (Raiko Gohara). Later, we are introduced to Lydia, Daniel’s overbearing mother; in a splendidly judged performance, Liza Sadovy walks the line between stereotypical comic mother and arch villain, as Lydia champions modern liberal values while, when she is put to the test, suggesting that she still harbours old prejudices.
In early scenes, McKeever keeps the audience gripped with witty small talk while, almost imperceptibly, building the characters and moving the play forward. The writer’s skill is then matched by an effortless shift in mood from light comedy to intense drams, which is accelerated by a sudden plot development in the middle of the play.
Justin Williams’ imposing set design for Daniel’s loft apartment suggests a warm and comfortable lifestyle. When, occasionally, the writer lays on the emotional stuff too thickly, director Alan Souza needs to apply the brakes to prevent his production drifting towards risible melodrama. He succeeds in keeping the drama intense and authentic, largely thanks to superb, impassioned performances by Harper-Jackson and Fetherston.
Daniel’s Husband offers 90 minutes of quality, thought-provoking theatre and McKeever reaffirms his growing reputation as a writer of significance.
Performance date: 9 December 2025
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