Plot

The play is set in the interrogation room of a downtown New York Police station in the early hours of 5 July. Two hardened cops (Sergeant Kelly and Jack Delasante) have arrested two suspects for the murder of an old woman. During the interrogations the police attempt to get a confession from the two suspects, Sean and Jimmy. As they do, they reveal far more about their own vulnerabilities than they intend. The tension of the play is increased by constant updates, by phone, of the state of mind of one of Kelly's daughter. Lonely and unstable, she becomes increasingly suicidal.

Discussion

Thomas Babe's writing deals with the traditional notion of a hero. Throughout A Prayer for My Daughter the two 'heroes' - the police officers - increasingly blur the lines between right and wrong. Written a few years after the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

 it is no coincidence that one of these officers is a Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

 veteran, coping with losing the war and being rejected by his country.

Also of note is that each of the characters, in one way or another, has a daughter and the relationships are therefore father/daughter. This is significant within theatre, with the majority of texts concerning themselves with father/son relationships.

Productions

The first UK production was at the Royal Court, London, in 1978 starring Anthony Sher and Donal McCann

Donal McCann

Donal McCann was an Irish stage, film, and television actor best known for his roles in the works of Brian Friel and for his lead role in John Huston's last film, The Dead.-Early life:...

. The play was first revived in 2008 by the Young Vic, directed by Dominic Hill.

Name

The play takes its name from a William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...

poem written in June 1919, which muses on the hopes and aspirations of a father for his daughter.