{"id":20984,"date":"2017-03-07T10:07:13","date_gmt":"2017-03-07T10:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/?p=20984"},"modified":"2017-03-07T10:07:13","modified_gmt":"2017-03-07T10:07:13","slug":"dadism-parenting-not-babysitting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2017\/03\/07\/dadism-parenting-not-babysitting\/","title":{"rendered":"Dadism – Parenting NOT Babysitting!"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s quite apt that on the day Bollywood director Karan Johar announces his new fatherhood role to the world \u2013 twins via surrogacy, I\u2019m attending the final show of Alison Chadwick\u2019s directorial, Dadism. Written by the creator of \u201cThe Dateless Wonder\u201d, Anjali Mya Chadha, this one man show, in the Watermans Theatre in London, starring Jason Kavan is a light hearted yet sincere insight into the role of the \u2018non-carrying\u2019 parent, the Dad!<\/p>\n

What\u2019s apparent in the first five minutes of the show, is that you don\u2019t have to be a parent to be engaged in this hilarious comedy. The tone of the narrative sits firm as Jason Kavan takes the audience into a journey of \u2018becoming\u2019 the dad as opposed to already being that parent the minute a child has been conceived. To clear any misconceptions, this story is certainly not that of an alpha-male anti-feminist overgrown man-child craving attention, far from it! Jason\u2019s story of a proud father-to-be is a universal echo of a father\u2019s vital role in parenthood which goes beyond being just the sperm donor.<\/p>\n

\"Dadism<\/a><\/p>\n

On many occasions, there are nods in unison within the audience, as we witness the comical yet very real societal expectations millennial couples feel pressured to conform to, from the \u2018right\u2019 time to having a child, the \u2018right\u2019 time to announce a pregnancy to choosing the \u2018best\u2019 birthing method. It\u2019s not just the expectant mothers who question their ability to carry through the welcoming of a new life in the \u2018right\u2019 way, but fathers too.<\/p>\n

Dadism cleverly narrates the daunting aspect of the pregnancy process through the eyes of a first time father, as he slowly watches his identify change from name to noun and sometimes sheer invisibility, a fear that I\u2019m sure must resonate amongst many new fathers. Amongst the fits of hysteria in the seventy minutes, the play doesn\u2019t fail to highlight the serious issue of the lack of both social and systematic support in recognising the integral role of the non-carrying parent. Limiting a new father\u2019s visitation hours post the birth of a child, the not so subtle \u201cIt\u2019s ok if daddy can\u2019t attend the midwife visit\u201d throwaway yet harmful comments, all play part in downplaying the importance of being dad. More importantly, a partner\u2019s moral support is heightened and imperative on making key decisions such as birthing methods, or as Jason said, \u201cThe midwife showed us the water-birth option, all I could see was a paddling pool from Argos.!\u201d\u00a0 It helps to have a voice of reason when an expectant mother\u2019s hormones are raging faster than Speedy Gonzales!<\/p>\n

Jason Kavan and comedy come hand in hand. He couples his quick wit and comebacks with the audience members to keep us engaged and captivated. Whilst there is no distinct reference to this subject just being confined to fathers of an ethnic background, Jason cleverly depicts his moment of being stopped, as a man of colour, by the police in the city as he was holding a \u2018suspicious\u2019 looking brown bag (i.e. his sandwich) in a complete light hearted manner.<\/p>\n

\"Anjali<\/a>
Anjali Mya Chadha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The duo of director Alison Chadwick and writer Anjali Mya Chadha reflects the strong chemistry of their partnership. The slick and sharp direction is complemented by Anjali\u2019s funny yet sincere and honest writing. It\u2019s refreshing to see a male oriented subject bourne from a female perspective and Anjali and Alison have certainly created that niche. What\u2019s beautiful about Dadism however, is that throughout the setbacks while trying to be recognised as an equal, the concept of a new life is constantly perceived with such a celebratory view by the protagonist. The question on everyone\u2019s mind is\u2026 what happens next.? Here’s to the next chapter!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s quite apt that on the day Bollywood director Karan Johar announces his new fatherhood role to the world \u2013 twins via surrogacy, I\u2019m attending the final show of Alison Chadwick\u2019s directorial, Dadism. Written by the creator of \u201cThe Dateless Wonder\u201d, Anjali Mya Chadha, this one man show, in the Watermans Theatre in London, starring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":20986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105,54,112],"tags":[307,92,255,312,285,309,310,311,288,313,308,85,314,315,286],"class_list":["post-20984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-desi_masala","category-desixpress","category-top-stories","tag-alison-chadwick","tag-british-asian-women-in-football","tag-comedy","tag-dad","tag-dadism","tag-dateless-wonder","tag-expectation","tag-father","tag-jason-kavan","tag-karan-johar","tag-parenthood","tag-sejal-sehmi","tag-surrogacy","tag-twins","tag-watermans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}