What Dad Did

Description

A mum puts the future of her family in doubt when she asks her three children to vote on whether she should divorce their dad after his affair. ‘What dad did’ is a comedy about the crumbling dynamic of the Frank family and the drastic steps taken to try and fix it; 12 Angry Men mixed with the comedy of Julia Davis. Julie Frank has mysteriously summoned her three adult children, John, Joanna and Joseph back to their family home for Sunday lunch. This is out of the ordinary. The Frank family don’t get on and they don’t talk. After lunch, Julie suddenly announces to the room why they have been summoned, their dad, Jack, has had an affair while away with work. Now she wants them, her three children, to help her to decide what to do and vote as to whether she should divorce him or not. The evidence is presented, the arguments are made and the votes are finally cast - two votes to one, the family has voted for Julie to divorce Jack. The retribution is swift, Jack is asked to leave and the family watch on finally brought together by annexing one of their own.

Biblical Connection

The biblical source I am using is Hebrews 13V4 - \"Marriage should be honoured by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.\" I wanted to explore this idea of adultery but more importantly the judgement that comes with that, but through the lens of the family unit. We want to make a comedy that explores the confusing, judgemental and polarised dynamics of our current time, but through the lens of a crumbling family dynamic. As a society we seem at constant conflict over every issue imaginable, even being asked to vote on such issues, creating even further division amongst neighbours, friends and family. We wanted to apply that to the core family unit, seeing how a single act of adultery could turn them on each other. But most importantly, it has to be funny and we believe that we have a unique and surprising concept, a fun twist on the bible verse with family dynamics that audiences will relate to, but pushed to their comedic extremes.