Theatre Review: Martin Decker: DAD 

Molly Stubbs 

Kevin Jones and Keiron Self created Martin Decker during lockdown, bringing the equal-parts loveable and laughable Cardiffian dad to the world via YouTube.

Those videos usually see Martin taking on a hair-brained scheme before having to confront the fact that his life isn’t really as good as his unending optimism, or at least his happy-go-lucky persona, would have you believe. They gained considerable traction and were eventually stitched together into The Martin Decker Show, which premiered on the festival circuit in 2023.

But Martin’s first appearance was actually in a script, since shelved, penned by Jones. Now, in 2025, the duo have finally succeeded in bringing him to the stage with Martin Decker: DAD.

Autobiographical

The show, in which Self plays Martin as in the original YouTube videos, is Mr Decker’s condensed autobiography, following his early life as he searches for a replacement for his absentee father. And who better to take on that all-important role than Harrison Ford? Cue copious amounts of fan-boying over Star Wars and Indiana Jones. 

Complete with some very funny and admittedly really-quite-good impressions, the show’s early portions are highly referential. If you’re also a Harrison Ford fan, I’d say the performance is worth it just to vicariously geek out through Martin as he whirls a plastic millennium falcon around the stage. 

‘Bits’ go on just the right amount of time even in their relatively-hefty length and, rare these days when many comedians come armed with baseball bats and surrounded by dead horses, there were some I wished weren’t quite so rapid-fire so the audience might’ve enjoyed them a few seconds longer. 

Close quarters

The show’s set, assisted by the close quarters of The Sherman’s Studio stage, is efficiently intimate and maintains the DIY elements so beloved in the original YouTube show.

Martin is the main focus, with a single screen behind him, a prop chest, and a chair for him to sit on in the most melancholy moments.

Despite the intended sparsity in stage design, Self does an incredible job filling the space. His physicality is a source of some wonder — the man has more energy than a teenager — and the flailing arms and jogging around pair perfectly with a lively, emotive voice, not unlike that of a children’s television presenter.

Martin Decker is clearly a character Self has lived with for a long time, and seems to greatly enjoy portraying. Aside from a few set-up moments that felt a little forced, the persona is delightfully authentic. Martin, both despite and because of his uniqueness, is an everyman.

Guests

Although Martin Decker: DAD is for all intents and purposes a one-man show, he does welcome some virtual guests. Elin Philips, François Pandolfo, Kev McCurdy, and Lynne Seymour play members of a Welsh Harrison Ford fan club, recreating scenes from Indiana Jones and Star Wars for no one’s enjoyment other than Martin’s. They also call him out on some of his not-so-savoury behaviour in the show’s latter portion. 

Speaking of, the last third is where Martin Decker: DAD starts to get a bit intense. Like in the original YouTube videos, Martin is forced to confront the fact that he’s not really succeeding at what he’s attempting to do. In this case, that’s being a good dad t0 his son, Charlie.

Martin subsequently works through the emotional and physical abuse he suffered at the hands of his own father, the frequent neglect he felt as a child, and how much those experiences have affected his life as an adult. His happy façade fades away very quickly.

Shift

It’s not a complete shock, thanks to the pockets of immersive introspection, with staging and lighting by Ceriann Williams and Danny Muir, that pull the audience into areas of Martin’s mind he works hard to keep private.

But the shift from the all-systems-go comedy in the performance’s earlier portion to this near-psychotic self-exploration is still slightly harsh, and Martin Decker: DAD never really recovers the lightheartedness its first hour lived in. 

All this would be fine, of course, if the show had something novel to say on the important themes it explores. But the overt message that parents should cherish their children, not hit them, is unoriginal if admirable, and the implicit message that children should forgive their parents their mistakes gets more problematic the more we delve into the extent of the abuse Martin suffered. 

Intended audience

As a 26-year-old woman with no kids, I’m far from Martin Decker: DAD’s intended audience. I’m a big believer that theatre should be for everyone, straight, white dads included. And far be it from me to condemn a man’s exploration of emotional repression when, though it’s an undeniably hard journey, it’ll lead to more empathetic fathers all round.

Yet, ultimately, I left with the impression that Martin Decker: DAD works better as a twisted character study than it does as a story with any moral. But hey, if it encourages a dad out there to evaluate his parenting, a man to rethink the effects of his past has on his present, then it’s succeeded at what I think it was attempting to do. 

And, in the interests of reviving Reithian Principles and providing a balanced perspective, I’ll give you my husband’s thoughts too. Though not yet a dad, he is rapidly approaching middle-age and said, although he “found Martin really annoying at the start, I really loved him by the end.” Different strokes for different folks, as they say.

At the very least, Jones and Self make good on their promise to “make a show that gives you a reason to cry and laugh in the same hour”, and even if you don’t end up lauding it in its entirety, Martin Decker: DAD will give you something to like.

Martin Decker: DAD ran at The Sherman Studio from 2 – 5 Jun 2025. Other shows include Torch Theatre, Milford Haven on 25 June, Maesteg Town Hall on the 26 June, The Welfare, Ystradgynlais on 27 June, Theatr Mwldan, Cardigan on 7 October, Aberystwyth Arts Centre on 8 October, Wyeside, Builth Wells on 10 October, Neath Little Theatre on 16 October, and Horton Village Hall on 18 October.