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Beautiful doom
The work of Dennis Kelly on stage and screen
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Edited by:
Jacqueline Bolton
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2025
About this book
Dennis Kelly’s award-winning plays have been translated into over thirty languages and produced on six continents. His endlessly inventive vision has produced a diverse body of work for a variety of audiences across a range of forms, genres, and media, from the Olivier and Tony Award-winning Matilda the Musical (2010), to the Channel Four cult-classic series Utopia. His 2008 play DNA, written for National Theatre Connections, is a set text on the AQA GCSE English Literature syllabus. This collection of essays written by leading scholars, teachers, and practitioners of theatre provides the first multi-authored study of Kelly’s critically acclaimed oeuvre. Featuring an original interview with Kelly himself, this volume captures the full range and scope of his writing for stage and screen, from the quirky fringe debut Debris (2003) to the globally-distributed film adaptation of Matilda the Musical (2022).
Author / Editor information
Jacqueline Bolton is Honourary Senior Fellow at the University of Lincoln
Nicholas Holden is Head of Academic Affairs and Research at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Nicholas Holden is Head of Academic Affairs and Research at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Reviews
'This cutting-edge book brings together original and timely essays on the work of Dennis Kelly, one of Britain’s most fascinating contemporary playwrights and screenwriters. Offering nuanced perspectives on Kelly’s destabilising dramaturgy, searing storytelling and scenarios of acute moral ambiguity, Beautiful Doom explores his impact across stage and screen, from plays like DNA and Taking Care of Baby to Matilda the Musical and television dramas like Utopia and Together. The volume is packed with insights for scholars, students, and theatre practitioners alike – an indispensable resource for understanding the enduring significance of Kelly’s dramatic work across a range of media.'
Clare Wallace, Charles University
Clare Wallace, Charles University
Topics
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Front Matter
i -
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Contents
v -
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List of illustrations
vii -
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Notes on contributors
viii -
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A foreword
xii -
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Introduction
1 -
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I Incubation
19 -
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1 DNA in the classroom
21 -
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2 Suspended in time and place
39 -
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3 ‘I’ll teach you a thing or two’
55 -
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II Antibodies
71 -
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4 ‘Are you sick, yet? / Are you disgusted, yet?’
73 -
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5 Utopia
90 -
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6 Beautiful doom
105 -
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7 Subjectivity in Dennis Kelly’s early drama
118 -
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III False positives
135 -
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8 ‘I just want it to be your words’
137 -
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9 ‘What is the difference between made up and real?’
152 -
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10 ‘What else isn’t true?’, or, Dennis Kelly’s expressionism
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11 Atopia
184 -
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IV Variants
201 -
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12 ‘Now look, are you going to tell me a story or not?’
203 -
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13 Dennis Kelly’s The Gods Weep at the Royal Shakespeare Company
217 -
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14 Performing stories, engaging audiences
233 -
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Conclusion
251 -
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Index
264 -
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Plates
267
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
May 27, 2025
eBook ISBN:
9781526145239
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9781526145239
Keywords for this book
adaptation; arts education; contemporary playwriting; Dennis Kelly; new writing; political theatre; post-truth; representations of violence; storytelling; Utopia
Audience(s) for this book
For a non-specialist adult audience
