I Want to Call You Daddy – a theatrical play by Marcé Underwood

I Want to Call You Daddy is a stirring one-woman performance that fuses poetry, storytelling, song, and movement to explore single motherhood in post-apartheid South Africa. Beginning with the raw moment of childbirth, the story follows a mother’s emotional journey through milestones like her daughter’s first school day, the challenges of maintenance court, and the quiet ache of a child’s unanswered questions.

Challenging stereotypes, the play confronts the often-overlooked reality of white paternal absence and asks, through searing spoken word and haunting Holocaust echoes: How do those shaped by historical trauma repeat cycles of abandonment?

This is not only a story of pain, but one of resilience, where art becomes survival. Neither a Cape Flats cliché nor a tale of privilege, the piece offers space for complex, marginalised narratives. At its heart is a child’s plea and a mother’s transformative love—a powerful reminder of the strength that remains when all else fails.

A haunting, genre-defying work that will stay with you long after the final bow.