Petruso is a freelance writer and scripted from Texas. In the following essay, she compares and contrasts the stage version of Leonard's play with the 1988 film version of the same name.

Irish playwright Hugh Leonard wrote both the original stage play and the screenplay for the film version of his hit Da. Both versions of the story share many of the same core characteristics, including themes, scenes, and even lines. As Mel Gussow wrote in a review of the play in New York Times, "Hugh Leonard's Da is a beguiling play about a son's need to come to terms with his father-and with himself." However, there are several distinctions between the movie and the play, both minor and important. By necessity of their respective genres, there are differences. The play is more physically restricted because of the imitations of the stage, while the movie can go anywhere...