says to Da, “I never knew you to have a hope or a dream or say a half-wise thing.” Da’s colloquial speech, much of it quite new to American ears, still sounds well-worn. He speaks entirely in bromides and catchphrases. In one moment of high exasperation, Charlie calls Da “an old thick, a zombie, a mastodon.” Seen through Charlie’s eyes, the virtues listed above seem to be faults: Da’s thrift becomes stinginess; stubbornness in opinion, obstinacy; simplicity and regularity, mere dullness; and contentment with station, servility.

In the play’s first full-scale flashback, Mr. Drumm comes to the house to interview Charlie for a job under him in the Irish Civil Service. Mr. Drumm is, as nearly as possible, Da’s opposite in everything. He is cynical and hard-hearted. He is as superior in his manner as Da is humble, as contemptuous as Da is accepting. Mr. Drumm says of Da that “there are milions like him: inoffensive, stupid, and not a damn bit of good.” He says of Da’s simple charm, “Yes, the dangerous ones are those who amuse us.”

While the interview with Mr. Drumm is occurring, Charlie argues with his younger self about young Charlie’s disloyalty to Da. The mature Charlie respects Mr. Drumm less. For young Charlie he had been something of a mentor. “He taught me,” says Charlie, “not by his enthusiasms—he had none—but by his dislikes.” When Mr. Drumm is being his most savage about Da, the audience sees Da, on another part of the stage, asking for work on Sundays so that he can afford to buy Charlie new clothes for his new job.

From here the play continues, in its haphazard way, through the events of the past. Most of the scenes touch in some way on the tensions that surround Charlie’s adoption or the arranged marriage. One scene, in which Da receives a pitifully small pension after fifty-four years of work for the same family, makes explicit the theme of class difference, which, it seems, is never absent from Irish literature. Well into the second act Charlie begins to remember things that are from the very recent past. He remembers Da’s senile last years, when Da was alone after his wife’s death. Charlie feels some guilt that, although he offered to take Da with him to live in London, he did not insist strongly enough that he do so. Had he insisted, Charlie believes, he might have started to repay the enormous debt that he owed to his father. Da eventually dies alone in a nursing home.

Shortly before the end of the second act, Mr. Drumm comes to visit, in his capacity as executor of Da’s estate. Mr. Drumm is now a sick old man, drained from living with his own bitterness. Charlie and Mr. Drumm discuss the choice Mr. Drumm has made in his life—to hold to his standards—and where this has led him. Speaking of his own health and Da’s death, Mr. Drumm says, “in the end we fetch up against the self-same door. I find that aggravating.”

Mr. Drumm leaves the two items of Da’s estate which were willed to Charlie. One is a worthless heirloom which Da had received as part of his pension. The other is a sum of cash. Charlie is at first surprised that Da should have had money to leave. He had only his own minuscule pension and whatever money Charlie had sent him. Quickly he understands: The legacy is the money that Charlie sent him, which Da has saved for this purpose. From the grave, Da denies Charlie any satisfaction in paying his debts.

His business finished, Charlie prepares to leave. In a moment of comic resoluteness, Charlie tells Da that he is reneging on all his debts, destroying everything that might remind him of Da, and leaving him behind. He locks Da inside the house and throws away the key. This, naturally, has no effect on Da. Saying “Sure you can’t get rid of a bad thing,” he follows Charlie to London, where he will remain, part of the memory that Charlie will never be able to forget.

Da reveals the mind of its protagonist to the audience. Both the organization of the stage and the devices of the storytelling serve this end. The first requirement of the stage is that it be flexible, to follow the play’s fluid narrative. The set is constructed around the kitchen and living room of the Tynan family home. This room was obviously the center of family life, and the stage directions call it “the womb of the play.” The area taken up by the kitchen remains the kitchen throughout the play, and it is the most realistically depicted part of the stage. The space surrounding the kitchen is divided into a number of less defined and more flexible areas. On one side is a neutral area, defined by lighting, which serves as a number of locales that the script requires. Behind and to the other side of the kitchen are areas that serve as a hill in a park and as the seashore.

Only in this way can the stage hold this nonlinear play. The action can skip seamlessly from location to location; the story can jump effortlessly forward and back. At times discrete events happen simultaneously, kept apart by the boundaries on the stage, and at other times characters speak to one another across the boundaries. Charlie can sit at his homely kitchen table while his memory swirls and darts around him, following its own lead. It is here that Da uses the best possibilities of the stage, beautifully showing the mysterious workings of memory.

Otherworldly figures are quite common on the modern stage. Ghosts have a long history as theatrical devices, but the modern stage has seen many more kinds of unreal figures. A number of plays have used second actors (or other devices) to show the private selves of the public personae onstage or the fantasy selves of the “real” characters. However, Hugh Leonard’s characters in Da are a category unto themselves. Da seems to be a ghost, but not all the figures can be ghosts. Mr. Drumm, for example, if not healthy, is still quite alive. It seems rather that the younger Drumm comes from Charlie’s memory, where he lives because Charlie has never outgrown the deep effect Mr. Drumm had on him in his youth. These figures might, then, be memories, but they seem too lively for that. They stand out because of their independence. They bicker with Charlie, and contradict and disobey him; even Charlie’s younger self asserts his independence. In a way they are memories, but the memories of a man with a productive imagination.

Charlie Tynan is a playwright, and it must be assumed that his imagination, stimulated to recollection, would yield scenes of these people and places that he knows so well. With his playwright’s imagination, Charlie can count on the company of these people for the rest of his life. They are like Da, who pops up when Charlie has forgotten his beginnings and is trying to lose himself in London sophistication—Da, who cannot be driven off, who follows Charlie back to his other life. They are like the creatures who live in all persons’ memories, cantankerous, independent, not to be disposed of lightly. In creating these new figures for his play, Leonard has again used the possibilities of the stage to give his audience an insight into the mind of his protagonist.

Irish History
In Leonard's play, pivotal moments from Ireland's past echo through the dialogue. As Act 1 unfolds, Charlie finds himself conversing with Da's ghost, recounting a tale he spun for Drumm about Da's ancestors who "starved in the Famine." Da reflects, "Oh, aye. Them was hard times. They died in the ditches," only for Charlie to reveal with disbelief, "What ditches? I made it up!" This exchange alludes to the Irish Potato Famine, or the Great Hunger, from 1845 to 1849. A devastating blight decimated the potato crop, the staple for impoverished Irish families, leading to widespread starvation. Despite this catastrophe, the British government's response was woefully inadequate, neglecting the desperate cries for help. Consequently, Ireland's population dwindled by nearly half, whether through death or emigration.

Shifting to Act 2, Charlie rummages through his father's relics, prompting Da's lament, "You kept nothing worth keeping at all. There was more to me than this rubbage. Where's me old IRA service certificate?" Here, Da nostalgically invokes the Irish Republican Army, founded in 1919, which wielded military force in the quest for Irish sovereignty, notably during the Irish War for Independence from 1919 to 1921. As Act 1 draws to a close, young Charlie, just seven, accompanies his father home after a walk. Da points out, "That's the Ulverton Road, son, where we frightened the shite out of the Black-and-Tans," recalling 1920-1921 when the British employed these makeshift-uniformed auxiliaries to suppress the IRA's resistance. On Bloody Sunday, November 21, 1920, brutal encounters resulted in the deaths of eleven English and twelve Irish lives. Da cherishes his IRA connection, embodying a fervent sense of Irish nationalism, though Charlie, residing in London, seems detached from this heritage, even going so far as to incinerate the IRA certificate.

Also in Act 1, Da shares his skewed perceptions of World War II with Drumm, mistakenly viewing Germany as an ally of Ireland and hailing Hitler as a "great man," despite the Luftwaffe's air raids on Dublin in 1941. Da exclaims, "Sure isn't [Hitler] the greatest man under the sun, himself and De Valera?" alluding to Eamon de Valera (1882-1975), a pivotal figure in the struggle for Irish independence who ascended to the roles of prime minister and president. Elected president of Sinn Fein in 1918, De Valera steered Ireland to declare independence in 1937. His leadership spanned premierships in 1932-1948, 1951-1954, and 1957-1959, and he served as president until 1973. Despite Da's lack of geopolitical insight, his discourse reveals his unwavering pride in Ireland's fight for autonomy.

Abbey Theatre
Hugh Leonard's ties to The Abbey Theatre in Dublin run deep, with his early plays finding a stage there and his tenure as literary editor from 1976 to 1977. Founded in 1904, the Abbey Theatre stands as a cornerstone of modern Irish drama. Its inception was made possible by the patronage of a wealthy Englishwoman, setting roots in an old Abbey Street venue. The debut season featured works by Yeats, Lady Gregory, and John Millington Synge. Synge's contentious satire, The Playboy of the Western World, staged in 1907, ignited a storm of protest, inciting riots in Dublin, New York, and Philadelphia. Despite turbulent times, the Abbey received state sponsorship in 1924. A fire in the 1950s necessitated a temporary move to the Queen's Theatre, but by 1966, a new venue rose from the ashes at its original location on Abbey Street.

Setting: Time and Place

The present-day stage of Da unfolds amid the verdant landscapes of Ireland in May 1968, capturing Charlie in the prime of his mid-forties. The narrative tapestry weaves through various epochs of his past, beginning in the tender dawn of the 1930s, when a mere seven-year-old Charlie first navigates the world; it drifts onward through the tumultuous 1940s, the shadows of World War II casting their influence over his teenage years. The chronology then leaps to the transformative 1950s, a decade marked by his youthful vigor, and finally settles into the early 1960s, with Charlie in his thirties. Although Leonard perceives himself as a writer unconfined by nationality, the Irish tapestry is unmistakable, as Charlie's Da reminisces about pivotal moments in Irish history—like the potato famine of the 1840s, the fierce quest for national sovereignty led by the Irish Republican Army during the 1920s to 30s, and the global upheaval of World War II.

Narrative Structure

Da unfolds akin to a film, with a symphony of memory scenes evoking vivid flashbacks. The drama commences in the somber aftermath of Da's funeral, with his spectral presence igniting a cascade of recollections. These memories defy the constraints of linear time, darting from the youthful exuberance of seventeen-year-old Charlie, to the cusp of adulthood at nineteen, spiraling back to his innocence at age seven, skipping forward to his thirties, then back again to age twenty-three, before settling into his late thirties. At times, these scenes feature a younger actor embodying Charlie's youthful essence, credited as Young Charlie, while in others, such as when Charlie is seven, the actor portraying his middle-aged self seamlessly embodies him at that tender age. These memories are not mere echoes of the past but persistent entities that inhabit Charlie, shaping and defining him in the present. S. F. Gallagher, in his introduction to Selected Plays of Hugh Leonard, aptly observes, "Leonard's cinematic technique facilitates a fluent succession of entrancing vignettes; past and present become the warp and woof of a virtually flawless fabric."

• 1919-1921: In the turbulent wake of Ireland's quest for freedom, the Irish Republican Army emerged from the shadows in 1919, supplanting the Irish Volunteers, who had been the torchbearers since 1913. This militant force became the spearhead of Ireland's fierce struggle for national independence from British dominion. The Irish War for Independence, spanning from 1919 to 1921, culminated in the historic signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. This pivotal agreement carved out Southern Ireland as the Irish Free State, an entity within the British Commonwealth, while Northern Ireland continued to remain firmly under British control.

  1937: A monumental shift in identity occurred as a new constitution rebranded the Irish Free State as Ireland, or Éire, marking a significant evolution in the nation's journey.

  1970s: The embers of the past ignited anew with the revival of the Irish Republican Army, now as a formidable guerrilla force campaigning for the reunification of Northern and Southern Ireland, free from British governance. In response, the British forces descended upon Northern Ireland, imposing martial law. During the height of the ensuing turmoil from 1971 to 1976, the conflict claimed the lives of an average of 275 people annually. It was against this backdrop of renewed Irish nationalism that the play Da first graced the stage.

  1990s: The decade witnessed numerous endeavors to broker peace between the IRA, the staunchly pro-British Ulster Unionists, and the British government over Northern Ireland's future. The Downing Street Declaration of 1993, a hopeful overture between Ireland and Britain, sought to pave the way for meaningful talks. Although a cease-fire was declared in 1994, it faltered in 1996, engulfing the region in violence once more. Nevertheless, negotiations resumed in 1998, birthing the Northern Ireland Assembly, a beacon of hope aimed at resolving the enduring conflict.

• 1939-1945: As the world plunged into the chaos of World War II, a fierce battle raged between the Allies—comprising Britain, Russia, and the United States—and the Axis powers led by Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan. Amidst the global upheaval, Ireland steadfastly clung to a policy of strict neutrality, even following a German bombing of Dublin in 1941.

  1957-1958: The birth of the European Economic Community signaled a new era of harmonious trade relations among European nations, many of whom had once stood as wartime adversaries. The founding members included Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands.

  1973: In a year marked by artistic milestones, Ireland, alongside Britain, made its entry into the European Economic Community, an entity that evolved through the decades, becoming known as the European Communities in 1967 and the European Community in the 1980s.

  1990s: The dawn of the decade brought transformative changes with the completion of the Treaty on European Union, more widely known as the Maastricht Treaty, in 1991, which redefined the European Community as the European Union. A resounding majority of Irish voters endorsed this treaty in a 1992 referendum. Ireland's stature on the European stage was further underscored when it held the presidency of the European Union for six months in 1996.

In 1988, Leonard crafted a screenplay adaptation of the acclaimed play Da, brought to life under the direction of Matt Clark. This cinematic rendition starred the illustrious Martin Sheen as Charlie, with Barnard Hughes taking on the role of Da. Within the pages of Video Movie Guide 2000, critics Mick Martin and Marsha Porter lavish praise on Da, declaring it a "special film" elevated by Hughes's unforgettable performance, complemented by Sheen's nearly as remarkable portrayal.

Sources
Barnett, Gene A. ‘‘Hugh Leonard,’’ in International Dictionary of Theatre, Vol. 2: Playwrights. St. James Press, 1993.

Chaillet, Ned. ‘‘Hugh Leonard,’’ in Contemporary Dramatists, 6th ed. St. James Press, 1999.

Gallagher, S. F. Selected Plays of Hugh Leonard. Colin Smythe, 1992, pp. 1,2,4,8,9.

Gussow, Mel. ‘‘Da,’’ in New York Times, May 2, 1978, p. 46.

Kerr, Walter. ‘‘Stage View: A Rousing Ain't Misbehavin' and a Masterful Da,’’ in New York Times, May 14, 1978, Sect. II, p. 7.

Martin, Mick, and Marsha Porter, eds. Video Movie Guide, 2000. Ballantine Books, 1999, p. 1995.

Further Reading
Albee, Edward. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Atheneum, 1962. This is a play to which Leonard's Summer has been compared.

Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Viking, 1916. The semi-autobiographical novel by the great modern Irish writer was adapted by Leonard for the stage in a 1962 production entitled Stephen D.

Leonard, Hugh. Parnell and the Englishwoman. Andre Deutsch, 1989. This is Leonard's first novel.

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. Viking, 1949. This is a memory play to which Da has been favorably compared.