Beautiful Doom
The Work of Dennis Kelly on Stage and Screen
Published on 1. April 2025
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-1-5261-4522-2 (ISBN)
Description
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). -- .
Reviews / Votes
'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 -- .
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Manchester
United Kingdom
Illustrations
4 colour illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
805 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5261-4522-2 (9781526145222)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
04/2025
Manchester University Press
€133.99
Available for download
Persons
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 -- .
Content
Introduction: 'Grimy little people like me': Situating Dennis Kelly - Jacqueline Bolton and Nicholas Holden
Part I: Incubation
1 DNA in the classroom: Drama as English exam - Charlotte Bell
2 Suspended in time and place: children and precarious masculinity in Dennis Kelly's Girls & Boys - Marissia Fragkou
3 'I'll teach you a thing or two': Dennis Kelly's 'School Plays' - Jacqueline Bolton and Nicholas Holden
Part II: Antibodies
4 'Are you sick, yet? / Are you disgusted, yet?': Watching torture in Dennis Kelly's works - Clare Finburgh Delijani
5 Utopia: Dennis Kelly's 'unworthy' drama - Chris Megson
6 Beautiful doom: The political aesthetic of Utopia - Sam Haddow
7 Subjectivity in Dennis Kelly's early drama: Towards neoliberalism - Basil Chiasson
Part III: False positives
8 'I just want it to be your words': Problematising verbatim theatre in Dennis Kelly's Taking Care of Baby - Sarah Beck
9 'What is the difference between made up and real?' Narrative, the 'post-truth' era, and Dennis Kelly's The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas - Catherine Love
10 'What else isn't true?', or, Dennis Kelly's expressionism - Mark Robson
11 Atopia: Dennis Kelly, Modernity, and Community - David Pattie
Part IV: Variants
12 'Now look, are you going to tell me a story or not?': The art and politics of storytelling in Matilda the Musical - Aloysia Rousseau
13 Dennis Kelly's The Gods Weep at the Royal Shakespeare Company -Catriona Fallow
14 Performing stories, engaging audiences: Dennis Kelly's narrative aesthetic -Janine Hauthal
Conclusion: 'Your subject matter isn't film, isn't TV, isn't books. It's people, it's real life': An interview with Dennis Kelly - Jacqueline Bolton and Nicholas Holden
Index -- .
Part I: Incubation
1 DNA in the classroom: Drama as English exam - Charlotte Bell
2 Suspended in time and place: children and precarious masculinity in Dennis Kelly's Girls & Boys - Marissia Fragkou
3 'I'll teach you a thing or two': Dennis Kelly's 'School Plays' - Jacqueline Bolton and Nicholas Holden
Part II: Antibodies
4 'Are you sick, yet? / Are you disgusted, yet?': Watching torture in Dennis Kelly's works - Clare Finburgh Delijani
5 Utopia: Dennis Kelly's 'unworthy' drama - Chris Megson
6 Beautiful doom: The political aesthetic of Utopia - Sam Haddow
7 Subjectivity in Dennis Kelly's early drama: Towards neoliberalism - Basil Chiasson
Part III: False positives
8 'I just want it to be your words': Problematising verbatim theatre in Dennis Kelly's Taking Care of Baby - Sarah Beck
9 'What is the difference between made up and real?' Narrative, the 'post-truth' era, and Dennis Kelly's The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas - Catherine Love
10 'What else isn't true?', or, Dennis Kelly's expressionism - Mark Robson
11 Atopia: Dennis Kelly, Modernity, and Community - David Pattie
Part IV: Variants
12 'Now look, are you going to tell me a story or not?': The art and politics of storytelling in Matilda the Musical - Aloysia Rousseau
13 Dennis Kelly's The Gods Weep at the Royal Shakespeare Company -Catriona Fallow
14 Performing stories, engaging audiences: Dennis Kelly's narrative aesthetic -Janine Hauthal
Conclusion: 'Your subject matter isn't film, isn't TV, isn't books. It's people, it's real life': An interview with Dennis Kelly - Jacqueline Bolton and Nicholas Holden
Index -- .