Dennis Kelly is one of the UK's finest contemporary dramatists. This second volume of his work collects together: Our Teacher's a Troll, Orphans, Taking Care of Baby, DNA and The Gods Weep. Also features a foreword by journalist, author and critic, Aleks Sierz."Without doubt, Kelly is one of the most multi-talented British playwrights to emerge in the last decade" - Aleks Sierz (from the foreword)
This tale of a mother accused and convicted of the deaths of her two young babies is a horrific yet powerful. By adopting a form commonly associated with verbatim theatre, the subject is imbued with a clarity that is at once both unrelenting and utterly engaging, as it slowly emerges that these events are not truth at all, but Kelly masquerading theatrical illusion as truth. What unfolds is a bleak yet tender exploration of grief, exploitation, and the innate hypocrisies of reportage.
An unexpected meeting at an airport leads to an intense passionate head-over-heels relationship. Before long they begin to settle down buy a house juggle careers have kids - theirs is an ordinary family. But then their world starts to unravel and things take a disturbing turn.
Vince Locker's life is tragic. His comedy act for the LaughCom competition has just bombed, ruining any chance of the cash prize he desperately needed. His life is in tatters; abandoned by his father as a child, an estranged wife, Jessica, who he seems to disappoint just by his mere existence, and living in his mother's house with his bipolar brother and facing foreclosure. As he stands on Smith Avenue Bridge, suicide seems the only option until he is unexpectedly rescued by an old school mortician named Truss. Vince meets another of Truss's rescues, Winona. Although beyond social norms, the trio seize on a quick cash fix that just might help Vince meet his child support demands-comedic tributes for the dead. The eulogies are hilarious and off the wall, sometimes disastrous and sometimes enlightening. They propel Vince into the dark underworld of the funeral industry, life insurance scams, savage politics, a kidnapping, the murder investigation of a destitute unclaimed young woman and threats to Jessica and his young daughter. As details of the murdered young woman are slowly revealed, Vince realizes that he has many ghosts of his own to put to rest. The story is a brilliant thought-provoking exploration of grief and death nested in clever humor.
This new Student Edition of Dennis Kelly’s popular play DNA contains introductory commentary and notes by Clare Finburgh Delijani, which gives an in-depth analysis of the play’s context and themes.As well as the complete text of the play, this new Methuen Drama Student Edition includes:· An introduction to the playwright and social context of the play· Discussion of the context, themes, characters and dramatic form· Overview of staging and performance history of the play· Bibliography of suggested primary and secondary materials for further study.Dennis Kelly's play DNA centres on friendship, morality and responsibility in odd circumstances. When a group of young friends are faced with a terrible accident, they deliberately make the wrong choices to cover it up and find themselves in an unusually binding friendship where no one will own up to what they've done.
"A piece that takes us on an extraordinary journey … The energy and the vividness of the writing never lets up." The IndependentAn unexpected meeting at an airport leads to an intense, passionate, head-over-heels relationship. Before long they begin to settle down, buy a house, juggle careers, have kids – theirs is an ordinary family.But then their world starts to unravel and things take a disturbing turn.A tragic, violent look at parenthood and trauma, Denis Kelly's stirring monologue play premiered at The Royal Court Theatre in 2018 starring Carey Mulligan. Published for the first time in Methuen Drama's Modern Classics series, this edition features a new introduction by David Pattie.
They were all in the pub when the explosion happened. Louise wakes up to find herself trapped with Mark, who has saved her life. Mark is always prepared for the worst and has everything he thinks they will need to survive; tinned chilli, Dungeons and Dragons and a knife - now all they need to do is to wait until it's safe to go outside. Can they survive the attack? Can they survive each other?After The End received its world premiere at The Traverse Theatre in August 2005.
David conducts an office romance by e-mail. He has love at his fingertips. But a shocking admission unravels his relationship piece by chilling piece. Jess loves David. She believes happiness can be bought – but it doesn’t come cheap in a world of easy credit. Jess and David’s ideal blend of love and money is killing them. Funny but heart wrenching, this ingenious drama dares us to enter a dislocated world of bad debts and even worse desires.Love and Money opened at the Manchester Royal Exchange in October 2006 with a transfer to the Young Vic, London.
A group of teenagers do something bad, really bad, then panic and cover the whole thing up. But when they find that the cover-up unites them and brings harmony to their otherwise fractious lives, where’s the incentive to put things right? DNA is a poignant and, sometimes, hilarious tale with a very dark heart.A contemporary play for younger people,DNA opened at the National Theatre in February 2008
Helen and Danny keep themselves to themselves. But the outside world comes crashing into their lives one day when Helen's brother turns up. Covered in blood.Dennis Kelly's new play is a thrilling contemporary suspense story which takes its audience on a chilling journey into a world just outside the front door. This disturbing urban drama has it's world premiere at the Traverse Theatre on 31st July 2009, reuniting the team that brought Kelly's play After The End to the Traverse Theatre in 2005. After a month's run at the Traverse, it transfers to Birmingham Rep and the Soho Theatre (London).
A city under attack from a nuclear blast. As the dust settles, Louise wakes to find herself in a fallout shelter with Mark, the colleague who has saved her life. They have enough water and food to last two weeks. Now they just need to find a way of surviving each other. A chilling post-nuclear play that examines what it takes to endure catastrophe.After the End was originally published in 2005. This revised and updated edition was published to coincide with the London production at Theatre Royal Stratford East in February 2022.
Fourth installment to the hit series The Chronicles of Alice Tarpley. In this newest addition Alice finds herself in a whirlwind of drama, love, comedy, the supernatural, and much more than she ever imagined
If you could lie without flinching, corrupt without caring and succeed at all costs – how far could you go…how much could you make?From the early promise of the '70s through to unrelenting capitalism of the '80s and '90s, follow George on the journey from innocence to savage greed and knotted honesty, as he invents three golden rule for success, whatever the cost.An electrifying dark tale, this new play from award-winning writer Dennis Kelly marks his Royal Court debut.
Once there were two terrible twins called Holly and Sean, who gave their Head Teacher a nervous breakdown. The twins were extremely pleased with themselves. That is, until the new Head Teacher arrived. For you see, the new Head Teacher was - a Troll. That’s right. _x000D_ And this Troll Head Teacher soon created all kinds of mad new rules for the pupils and teachers. Can Holly and Sean save the day and stop the Troll from eating their classmates and teachers? Can naughtiness be restored to its rightful place? Will Brussels sprouts and peanut butter be taken off the menu?
An odyssey of pain, blood, love and loss. An unreal journey through two disturbed minds, and the unfolding events leading up to the self crucifixtion of their father in the front room. Enter the insane world of siblings Michael and Michelle. Debris is a depraved vision of an alien world seen through their eyes. Debris was developed whilst Kelly was on attachment at the National Theatre Studio. A production by the Latchmere Theatre opened at Battersea Arts Centre in March 2004.
Gary's not stupid. He just dares to see the world differently. In the class room and on the estate, he provokes without intent. When another act of violence unsettles those around him, Gary must shoulder the blame. A visceral rollercoaster of a play by one of Britain's hottest writers. Raw, angry and urgent, this is an explosive piece of work.
'None of this is the truth. It's just people saying things. It's all subjective. There's the truth, and there's what people think is the truth, and it all depends on how you slant it...' Taking Care of Baby tackles the complex case of Donna McAuliffe, a young mother convicted of the murder of her two infant children. In a series of probing interviews the people in this extraordinary story, including Donna herself and her bewildered mother Lynn, reveal how they may have harmed those they sought to protect. Dennis Kelly's ambitious play uses the popular techniques of drama-documentary and verbatim theatre to explore how truth is compromised by today's information culture.
Across the UK thousands of people are involved in protests and debates, sparked into action by the largest cuts to publicspending since WWII – cuts which are the turning point of a generation, undermining the welfare state, higher education and the arts in one fell swoop. Theatre Uncut is a national theatre event in response to these cuts, bringing together some of the UK’s leading dramatists.Drama groups, universities, youth clubs and theatre companies nationwide joined the event, staging their own versions of the shorts in a national theatrical uprising. Now published in this new collection, Theatre Uncut contains these short plays, addressing audiences who want to think about what the budget cuts really mean, and who they are really hitting. A debate is underway. Protest might begin, minds might be changed, views challenged, ideas formed. Theatre Uncut is a response to a situation that we cannot control, and over which we had no say.Click below to hear an interview with Libby Brodie and Hannah Price of Theatre Uncut:
