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Dennis Kelly

DENNIS KELLY

  (1970 - )
Nationality:    English
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Casarotto Ramsay and Associates Ltd  

Dennis Kelly is an internationally acclaimed playwright. Stage plays include Debris (Theatre 503 and Battersea Arts Centre, 2003 & 2004); Osama the Hero(Paines Plough and Hampstead Theatre 2004 & 2005; winner of the Meyer Whitworth Award 2006); After the End (Paines Plough, Traverse Theatre, Bush Theatre, UK and international tour, 2005); Love and Money (Young Vic Theatre and Manchester Royal Exchange, 2006); Taking Care of Baby (Hampstead Theatre and Birmingham Repertory Theatre, 2006; winner of the John Whiting Award 2007); DNA (NT Connections, National Theatre, 2007-8); Orphans(Paines Plough, Traverse Theatre, Soho Theatre and Birmingham Rep, 2009; winner of a Fringe First and Herald Angel Award 2009) and the Gods Weep (Royal Shakespear Company and Hampstead Theatre). In 2009 Dennis was voted Best Foreign Playwright 2009 by Theatre Heute, Germany. Work for radio includes the Colony (BBC Radio 3, 2004; Prix Europa Award - Best European Radio Drama and Radio & Music Award - Scripting for Broadcast 2004) and 12 Shares (BBC Radio 4, 2005). Dennis co-wrote the award winning comedy series Pulling (Silver River and BBC 3, 2006 - 09) and wrote the stage adaptation for Roald Dahl's Matilda, which won the Olivier award for Best New Musical in 2012. 'We have a pool of amazingly talented playwrights in Britain, and we also have a quite separate talent pool producing comedy. there is very little dialogue between these two worlds, but Dennis is able to move very easily between them, and that is quite unique.' - Mark Ravenhill

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below is a list of Dennis Kelly's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         After the End         Blackout         Brendan's Visit         Children's Monologues, The         Colony, The         Debris         Deoxyribonucleic Acid         Fourth Gate, The         From Morning to Midnight         Girls & Boys         Gods Weep, The         Love And Money         Matilda, A Musical         Murder At Gobbler's Wood         Orphans         Osama the Hero         Our Teacher's A Troll         Pinocchio         Prince Of Homburg, The         Pupation         Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas, The         Rose Bernd         Taking Care Of the Baby         Things That Make No Sense
After the End

After the End
I think the biggest threat isn't from what people do to you, it's from what you do to yourself. they were all in the pub when the explosion happened. Louise has just woken up to find herself trapped with Mark, who has saved her life. Mark has always been prepared for the worst and has everything he thinks they will need to survive: tinned chilli, Dungeons & 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?

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
BAC , London >>>     2004

Organisations:
LaTheatre Companyhmere Theatre

1st Published:
Oberon Books Ltd (30 July 2005)   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Blackout

Synopsis:
Eddie is having blackouts and spiralling towards an all-engulfing psychosis.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Brendan's Visit

Synopsis:
Dissatisfied with life in a South London flat with his girlfriend, Jeanette, David Lockley has decided that it is time for change. What he doesn't realise is that more change than he could ever bargain for is lurking around the corner in the form of his malevolent older brother, Detective Inspector Brendan Lockley. the very same Brendan who tortured and humiliated Dave all through his childhood that Dave spent the last ten years trying to forget. But they were kids then and kids grow out of that sort of thing. As Jeanette says, how bad can he really be. . .?

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Etcetera Theatre, London >>>     21 Oct 1997

Organisations:
Bruised Theatre Company

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Children's Monologues, The

Synopsis:
Dramatic Need (DN) is a UK-registered charity that sends international Arts professionals to do workshops in underprivileged and rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Gifted, heavyweight actors will perform monologues written by Lynn Nottage, Bola agbaje, Polly Stenham, Dennis Kelly, Gabriel Bisset-Smith, Oladipo agboluaje, Zawe ashton, Joel Horwood, anya Reiss and Jamie Minoprio, based on autobiographical stories written by the some of the children DN works with.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
short monologue

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Colony, The

Synopsis:
Six tenants of a South London estate watch a baby crawling along a balcony. Caught up in their own self-delusions and obsessions each is unable to act to help a child literally in peril.

Notes:
Winner of the 2004 Prix europa for the Best Radio Drama

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Debris

Debris
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

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Deoxyribonucleic Acid

Synopsis:
DeoxyriboNucleic acid. DNa. a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. When a high school "it" gang takes a joke too far, a lonely and terrified boy is lost. . . isn't he? 'I am trying to keep everyone together. ever since I came to this school haven't I been trying to keep everyone together? aren't things better? For us? I mean not for them, not out there, but for us? Doesn't everyone want to be us, come here in the woods? Isn't that worth keeping hold of?' LyT return to the Traverse for the fifth year with a shadowy story played to a hard-core soundtrack in their trademark cutting-edge style. Calling up contemporary media obsessions with 'real life stories' and dodgy old men with rotten teeth, DeoxyriboNucleic acid is a poignant and, sometimes, hilarious tale with a very, very dark heart.

Notes:
aka DNA

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Lyceum Youth Theatre

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  3            Other:  extras

Further Reference:

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Fourth Gate, The

Fourth Gate, The
Subtitled 'a Klezmer piece', the Fourth Gate was is based on traditional Hassidic stories. This funny and multi-faceted play depicts a lost world where the celestial and the everyday go hand in hand, where poverty and ignorance may be signs of ultimate richness and wisdom, where searching for your mentor/spiritual leader can be a life-long goal. In this small Ukrainian community, time and space seem to be penetrable and reversible, reality and myths can be easily confused.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Peter Karpati

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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From Morning to Midnight

From Morning to Midnight
Knocked for six by his lust for an exotically perfumed woman from Florence, a trusted bank clerk of twenty-five years' standing shoves a stolen fortune in his pocket and runs to her hotel, where his ludicrous advances are rejected. But, he's broken free and there's no turning back. He ditches his family and their bourgeois existence to embark on a roller-coaster odyssey, scouring the city's senseless entertainments in an increasingly disillusioned search for an experience worth buying and a reason for living. I am a changed man! I have sixty thousand marks and I'm going to decide for myself what is and isn't pointless so to hell with you!

Notes:
Original Playwright - Georg Kaiser. German Expressionist masterpiece From Morning to Midnight (1912), in a new version by Dennis Kelly, explores the tragedy of an ordinary man who steps outside his humdrum life and, over the course of one crazy, alienating day, destroys himself.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Oberon Books Ltd (30 Nov. 2013)   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
translation

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  8            Other:  with doubling

Further Reference:
-

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Girls & Boys

Girls & Boys
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. A tragic, violent look at parenthood and trauma.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Oberon Books Ltd (8 Feb. 2018)   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Gods Weep, The

Gods Weep, The
a successful CEO finds himself in the niddle of a power struggle that reveals the corruption and unstoppable forces at work in a world where corporate greed and national security frightenly overlap

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
RSC

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  5            Other:  doubling

Further Reference:

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Love And Money

Synopsis:
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.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Sorts Project

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  doubling

Further Reference:

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Matilda, A Musical

Synopsis:
magical story about a little girl with extraordinary powers

Notes:
based on Roald Dahl's children's book. Written by Dennis Kelly, with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin

1st Produced:
Courtyard Theatre In Stratford     09 Nov 2010

Organisations:
RSC

1st Published:
-   

Music:
Original cast recording: RSC Enterprise Ltd 2011

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  large cast

Further Reference:

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Murder At Gobbler's Wood

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Playwrights, Robin French, Dennis Kelly And enda Walsh, perform exclusive extracts.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Orphans

Orphans
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 play is a thrilling contemporary suspense story which takes its audience on a chilling journey into a world just outside the front door.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company and Traverse Theatre Company in association with Paines Plough

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Thriller

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  1b

Further Reference:

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Osama the Hero

Osama the Hero
a seventeen year old misfit gives a talk at school on his hero Osama bin Laden with whom he indefieas as a fellow outsider. However the lynch mob of the local housing estate object and bombs and torture abound. the play shows the most frightening thing about terrorism - its ability to corrupt those who are its victims.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Hampstead Theatre, London >>>     05 May 2005

Organisations:
Paines Plough

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Our Teacher's A Troll

Our Teacher's A Troll
What would you do if your teacher had a breakdown and was replaced by a troll with a huge purple tongue, who made all the schoolchildren work in a gold mine? Only the terrible twins, Holly and Sean, can save their school and everyone in it. Our Teacher's a Troll is a deliciously gruesome tale for children big and small.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Half Moon Young People's Theatre, London     24 Mar 2005

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Oberon Books (1 Aug. 2014)   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
30 min TYA

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  extras, doubling

Further Reference:

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Pinocchio

Synopsis:
There are no strings on me

Notes:
Music and lyrics from the Walt Disney movie "Pinocchio" Leigh Harline; Paul J Smith; book by Dennis Kelly. Based on the novel "Pinocchio" by Carlo Collidi

1st Produced:
Royal National Theatre, London     01 Dec 2017

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Prince Of Homburg, The

Synopsis:
Heroic commander of the Prussian cavalry, the Prince of Homburg dreams of victory, glory and fame. But his reckless disobedience during a crucial military operation leads the Prince to his greatest battle yet.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Heinrich von Kleist

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  3            Other:  extras

Further Reference:

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Pupation

Synopsis:
Drawing on the imaginations of four young writers, Dennis Kelly has written a 10 minute play which those same writers have gone on to complete.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
10 min

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas, The

Synopsis:
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 morality tale.

Notes:
Royal Court theatre, theatre Downstairs, Sloane Square, London (05 Sep 2013)

1st Produced:
Ruhrfestspiele Reckling Hausen     12 May 2012

Organisations:
Staedtische Buehnen Frankfort am main BMBH

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Rose Bernd

Synopsis:
Silesia, 1903. every man falls for Rose Bernd. But her actions lead her into danger. In a deeply traditional community how can she avoid disgrace? 'Rose Bernd' is a compassionate but shocking account of a young woman's downfall

Notes:
Original Playwright - Gerhart Hauptmann. Version by Dennis Kelly from A literal translation by Anthony Meech

1st Produced:

Organisations:
part of the 'Last Waltz' season by Oxford Stage Company & Dumbfounded Theatre

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Taking Care Of the Baby

Taking Care Of the 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.
theatre List

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Birmingham Rep

1st Published:
Oberon Books Ltd (8 May 2007)   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  doubling

Further Reference:

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Things That Make No Sense

Things That Make No Sense
the growing disconnection between high profile policing and actual justice.

Notes:
Part of theatre Uncut. Across the country thousands of people Are involved in protests And debates, sparked into Action by the largest cuts to public spending since World War Two. theatre Uncut is A national theatre event in response to these cuts, bringing together some of the UK's leading Dramatists.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Reclaim Productions, in association with Meeting Point Productions

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
short play

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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