Da is Hugh Leonard's best play. For the first time, Ireland's most prolific and commercially successful workhorse of the theatre has proved that he can infuse some heart as well as technical virtuosity into his work. It is unashamedly autobiographical; in a program note Leonard states that his father was a "man in whose life there was not one ounce of conventional—i.e. theatrical—drama." (pp. 397-98)

The father-son relationship, the "topping" of the father by the son, is an elemental theme in dramatic literature…. Leonard in Da uses … a fluid, cinematic form ranging freely in time and place; two actors playing the part of the son …; an elderly father whose words of affection are log-jammed in his mind; a son whose taunts do not provoke the father into abandoning his apparent disinterest and his years of role playing. The bloodlines of Leonard's play lead directly to [Brian] Friel, but Leonard's play is more personal and autobiographical. For the first time Leonard does not hide behind his craftsmanship, but lets all his hang-ups hang out….

Before Da, Leonard's reputation was based on his competent adaptations of others' works to such an extent that his critics had been darkly predicting that his next project would probably be an adaptation of the Greater London Telephone Directory. His original plays lacked depth. With Da, however, Leonard has quarried deeply within himself and discovered compassion. Some of his wisecracks are stale to Irish ears; he sometimes goes for the easy laugh when his invention fails, but in general his play holds together. (p. 398)