The Salopian no. 157 - Winter 2015

14 SCHOOL NEWS
DNA Junior School Play
Dennis Kelly’s DNA is a hugely challenging play, both for the actors and for the audience.
It tells the story of a group of teenagers whose lives are turned upside down the day that they accidently
commit a murder. Part thriller, part comedy, part meditation on modern adolescence, it follows the
group as they attempt to cover up what they have done, and ultimately,
are led deeper and deeper into their deception.
The action takes place in a disused
quarry, which has been colonised
by students from the nearby school.
Niki Holmes’ extraordinary set, built
by Kieren Harding and painted
by sixth form art students Erin
Leatherbarrow, Sarah Jackman and
Meg Elliott, reflected the incipient
violence of the play. Festooned
in broken dolls and daubed with
gothic graffiti, it provided the perfect
backdrop for the unfolding story.
The play was written in 2007 – since
then, Facebook, Instagram and
Snapchat have become ubiquitous in
teenage lives. Director Helen Brown
chose to reflect this in the screenshots
that were projected across the stage,
showing how the real world functions
in parallel to the cyber world, and
sometimes, what is recorded becomes
more real than what actually happened.
The appeal of the play rests on the
realism of its characters: to anyone who
spends time with teenagers, each of
the characters is instantly recognisable,
from the glamorous ‘Mean Girls’ to the
geeky misfits. The core of the play is
the relationship between Leah (Tilly
Reynolds) and Phil (Angus Warburg).
Tilly captured Leah’s nervous insecurity
perfectly, giving her speeches both
humour and pathos.
Kelly borrows the convention of
a chorus from Greek tragedy, and
provides a laconic commentary on the
action from the perspective of Mark
and Jack (Freddy Williams and Harry
Wasdell), They provide the voice of
the insiders, in contrast to the outsiders
they victimise and eventually destroy.
Otto Rothwell Hurley played Brian with
endearing innocence and vulnerability,
while Aaron Clark’s brutalised Adam
was genuinely unnerving.
This was a convincing performance
from a very talented young cast; the
senior actors should look to their
laurels as this group progress through
the school.
Richard Hudson