Flashcards for DNA

Adam

Adam is a minor yet crucial character in Dennis Kelly's DNA, serving as the silent catalyst around which the play's moral crisis unfolds.

character

Brian

Brian is a secondary yet crucial character in DNA by Dennis Kelly, serving as one of the complicit members of the teenage gang at the heart of the play's moral crisis.

character

Cathy

Cathy is part of the teenage peer group at the center of DNA by Dennis Kelly, serving as one of the ensemble voices that both drive and are driven by the moral crisis surrounding the cover-up of Adam's apparent death.

character

Danny

Danny is a key character in DNA by Dennis Kelly, a morally complex teenager whose unsettling calm becomes the driving force during the gang's crisis.

character

Jan

Jan is one of the two main characters in Dennis Kelly's DNA, acting as the moral compass and anxious voice of the teenage gang.

character

Leah

Leah is a key character in Dennis Kelly's DNA, a gripping ensemble drama about a group of teenagers who try to hide the accidental death of a classmate.

character

Lou

Lou plays a crucial role in DNA by Dennis Kelly, woven into the teenage gang whose shared moral crisis propels the story.

character

Mark

Mark is a secondary yet crucial character in DNA by Dennis Kelly.

character

Phil

Phil is the strategic ringleader at the center of DNA by Dennis Kelly.

character

Richard

Richard is an important, if peripheral, member of the teenage gang at the center of DNA by Dennis Kelly.

character

“He was our friend. He was our friend and we left him.”

This poignant line is from DNA by Dennis Kelly, a brief yet impactful play aimed at young audiences that delves into themes of guilt, complicity, and moral cowardice among a group of teenagers.

member of the peer group (likely Leah or Jan/Mark)

“We didn't do anything wrong. We were just... we were just there.”

This haunting line is from DNA by Dennis Kelly, a short yet powerful British play often included in secondary school curricula.

Phil or Leah (one of the teenage group members)

“He's dead. We killed him. We have to deal with that.”

This haunting line comes from DNA by Dennis Kelly, a short but powerful British play aimed at young audiences that delves into themes of collective guilt, moral responsibility, and the psychology of group dynamics.

Member of the teenage gang (likely Leah or Phil) · Act 1

“I think I'm going to have to kill Brian.”

This darkly comic line is from DNA by Dennis Kelly, a brief yet intense British play aimed at young audiences that delves into themes of mob mentality, moral cowardice, and the corrupting influence of collective guilt.

Phil (or gang member) · Act 3

“It's better this way. It's better for everyone.”

This haunting line comes from DNA by Dennis Kelly, a brief yet impactful British play aimed at young audiences that delves into mob mentality, guilt, and moral cowardice within a group of teenagers.

Phil · Act 2 / Scene with the group's decision regarding Adam

“We've done something terrible and we need to do something terrible to cover it up.”

This chilling line comes from DNA by Dennis Kelly, a short but intense British play aimed at young audiences that delves into the dark psychology of group morality, complicity, and cover-up.

Group / Cathy (attributed to the gang's collective reasoning, voiced in discussion) · DNA (one-act play, scene 2 or 3)

“What are you doing? What are you eating? Stop eating.”

This quote is from DNA by Dennis Kelly, a brief yet powerful British play from 2008 that is often included in secondary school curricula.

Leah

“You don't feel anything, do you? Nothing. You're just... nothing.”

This biting accusation comes from DNA by Dennis Kelly, a brief but powerful British play aimed at young audiences that delves into mob mentality, moral emptiness, and the troubling appeal of passive leadership.

Leah

“People are happier, Phil. Did you know that? There are studies. People are happier since this happened.”

This quote is from DNA by Dennis Kelly, a brief yet impactful play aimed at young audiences.

Leah

“I think about things. I think about things all the time. I can't stop thinking.”

This quote is from DNA by Dennis Kelly, a brief yet powerful British play aimed at young audiences that delves into group psychology, moral responsibility, and how easily people can silence their conscience under social pressure.

Phil

DNA

In DNA by Dennis Kelly, the double-helix structure of DNA symbolizes the inescapable, intertwined aspects of human identity — blending innocence with guilt, individuality with collectivity, and biology with choice.

Food

In DNA Kelly, food symbolizes identity, belonging, and cultural inheritance.

The Field

In DNA by Dennis Kelly, the field symbolizes moral ambiguity, hidden guilt, and the group’s shared complicity.

The Street

In DNA Kelly, the street symbolizes both entrapment and identity.

The Wood

In DNA by Dennis Kelly, the Wood symbolizes moral ambiguity, secrecy, and the corrupting nature of group survival.

Dramatic Monologue

Kelly organizes DNA around a series of isolated monologues from Mark, Jan, and others, which they deliver directly to the audience while the group scenes unfold separately.

Repetition

Repetition is the play's main verbal texture.

Parataxis

Kelly's dialogue consists mainly of short, straightforward statements that are often coordinated with little subordination, creating a paratactic style.

Juxtaposition

Kelly shifts abruptly between the everyday and the catastrophic without any transitions.

Irony

The play's plot hinges on a cruel twist: the gang concocts a detailed lie to hide what they think is Adam's accidental death, only to find out that Adam is alive.

Motif

Food is a recurring theme in DNA, serving as a gauge of Phil's emotional distance.

Aporia

Leah's monologues are exercises in exploring unanswered questions—she poses dilemmas she can't resolve and encourages Phil (who never replies) and the audience to share in the uncertainty.

Symbolism

Adam is the play's most significant symbol.

Allegory

DNA serves as a social allegory exploring themes of group conformity, institutional cover-ups, and the corruption of collective identity.

Pathetic Fallacy

The field scenes — the main backdrop of the play — have a strong atmospheric presence.

Stanza

Though DNA reads like a prose drama, Kelly organizes it into clear, distinct scenes that resemble stanzas in a poem.

Rhetorical Question

Leah's monologues are filled with rhetorical questions that Phil never responds to, and the play leaves them unresolved.

luxury

Something you can only afford — emotionally or morally — when things are going well; here, the idea that feeling guilty is a privilege the characters have no right to indulge given what they have done.

noun · Chapter 4

calculating

Carefully and coldly working out what is most useful to oneself, without being guided by feelings or conscience.

adjective

amoral

Having no sense of right or wrong at all; not simply choosing to do wrong but being completely indifferent to the difference between right and wrong.

adjective

frame

To deliberately plant false evidence so that an innocent person appears guilty of a crime they did not commit.

verb · Chapter 1

DNA

The unique genetic material found in every person's cells, used here as physical evidence that can be planted to falsely identify someone as present at a crime scene.

noun · Chapter 1

postman

A person whose job is to deliver mail; in this play, an ordinary, innocent man who is wrongly arrested because false evidence points to him.

noun

fallout

The damaging consequences or after-effects that follow a bad event or decision, especially ones that spread and affect many people.

noun · Chapter 2

hierarchy

The ranking system within the group that determines who has power and who must obey; the unofficial order of authority among the teenagers.

noun

precarious

Unstable and likely to collapse or go badly wrong at any moment; dependent on circumstances that could easily change.

adjective

unravel

To fall apart or break down gradually; used here to describe the group's relationships and shared plan coming undone.

verb

looms

Appears as a large, threatening presence that is about to cause serious trouble; the past act hangs over the characters menacingly.

verb

vie

To compete eagerly with others for something, such as power, attention, or control within the group.

verb

dire

Extremely serious and urgent, with very bad consequences likely if nothing is done; a desperate situation with no easy way out.

adjective

simmering

Building up slowly and quietly beneath the surface, like water just below boiling point; used here for tension that has been growing throughout the play.

verb

reckless

Acting without thinking about or caring about the dangerous consequences of one's actions; dangerously impulsive.

adjective

medication

Prescribed drugs taken to treat a mental or physical health condition; here it signals that a character has broken down psychologically as a result of guilt.

noun · Chapter 4

deception

The act of making people believe something false; the whole cover-up the group maintains to hide what really happened to Adam.

noun

intact

Undamaged and still in one piece; here it means the group's lie has not been exposed or broken apart.

adjective

aftermath

The period of time following a harmful or disastrous event, during which the consequences are still being felt.

noun

withdrawn

Pulled back from social contact; quiet, isolated, and emotionally shut off from the people around you.

adjective

conflicted

Torn between opposing feelings or values — for example, knowing something is wrong but also wanting to protect yourself — so that no clear decision feels possible.

adjective

confessing

Admitting to having done something wrong, especially to an authority; here, telling the truth about what happened to Adam instead of maintaining the cover story.

verb

unreachable

Impossible to connect with emotionally; so closed off that no one can get through to him, no matter what they say or do.

adjective · Chapter 4

point

The whole purpose or essential reason behind something; used repeatedly in the play to assert that a situation or rule has a specific, non-negotiable logic.

noun · Chapter 4