Joel has daddy issues.

And his insatiable cravings for father figures always leave him wanting more.

Don’t tell his dentist, but Joel Bray’s cravings are getting out of hand. He’s looking to live the sweet life, yet the sugar hits of nostalgia and fantasy are all too short-lived, and behind it all there’s a need that can never be sated.

Daddy is the latest work from one of the most electric new figures in Australian dance. Here he probes one of the paradoxes of our age: when so much is on offer, why are we left so hungry?

From the sugar-coated idyll of childhood reminiscence to the glazed excesses of queer adulthood, Joel’s story proves that a sweet tooth is a dangerous thing. Short-lived highs give way to the inevitable comedowns before the cycle begins all over again. And like a kid in a candy store, an imperial hunger for Aboriginal Australia consumes all it encounters – land, women and children – like fistfuls of sugar.

Hilarious, provocative and heartfelt, this DADDY tickles the nerve endings of desire whilst prodding the cavities left by colonisation. Featuring Joel Bray’s trademark confection of conversation, dance and all-you-can-eat audience participation, Daddy is a sweet feast with a deadly aftertaste.

Creator, Choreographer, Performer Joel Bray / Composition & Sound Design Naretha Williams / Lighting Design Katie Sfetkidis / Set & Costume Design James Lew / Collaborating Director Stephen Nicolazzo / Collaborating Choreographer Niharika Senapati / Dramaturgy SJ Norman / Audio Technical Support Daniel Nixon / / Lighting Associate Nicholas Moloney / Piano Niv Marinberg / Voices Josh Price, Jason Tamiru / Technical & Stage Manager Cecily Rabey / Premiere season Producer Josh Wright

Hero Image by James Henry. Photography by Bryony Jackson.

“Daddy demonstrated that we are indeed living in a blak queer cultural renaissance. And while there are struggles yet to come, unique perspectives are finally being celebrated.”

— Timah Ball, ABC Arts

“And carefully, gently, with a mixture of irresistible humour and breathtaking, desolating honesty, he brings his audience with him into this central trauma of his life. It’s a trauma that opens infinitely, because it’s at once deeply personal and part of much larger colonial histories. But the truth is that history is always personal.”

— Alison Croggon, Witness Performance

Daddy premiered Wed 8 – Sun 12 May, 2019
Arts House as part of Yirramboi Festival

Daddy seasons:

2019: Yirramboi Festival / Liveworks / Brisbane Festival

2020: Arts Centre Melbourne / Auckland Arts Festival

2021: Darwin Festival

2022: Perth Festival / Chillout Festival

2023: World Pride, Sydney

2024: Tanzmesse, Dusseldorf, Germany

Daddy was commissioned by the City of Melbourne through Arts House, YIRRAMBOI Festival, and the Arts Grants Program; and by Performance Space, Sydney. It was developed for YIRRAMBOI’s KIN Commissions and the Liveworks Festival 2019.