Modern texts: Dennis Kelly DNA

The idea

DNA by Dennis Kelly follows teenagers who build an elaborate cover-up after their bullying seems to have killed Adam. Fear, group pressure and self-interest distort individual morality as the silent, calculating Phil takes control and the increasingly desperate Leah comments on the group's decline. When Adam is found alive in the wood, Leah is present and pleads for him, but Phil demonstrates a suffocation plan and sends Cathy and Brian away with Adam. Leah later leaves in disgust. The intended killing happens offstage and Adam is absent from the final section, so the play makes the group's escalation clear without showing the act. Kelly's fragmented scenes, pauses and monologues expose coercion, guilt, power and responsibility.

What earns the marks

• AO1: Trace the escalation of the group's actions from panicked cover-up to calculated murder, using textual details to support your timeline.
• AO1: Explain how Leah's monologues function as a moral commentary on the group's actions and reveal her own internal conflict.
• AO1: Analyse how Phil establishes and maintains power through strategic silence and minimal, decisive dialogue, referring to specific moments.
• AO2: Analyse Kelly's use of fragmented, overlapping dialogue and slang to create a realistic yet tense teenage vernacular.
• AO2: Discuss the structural significance of alternating scenes between the full group and the Leah/Phil pairing.
• AO2: Explore how the play's use of recurring, isolated settings contributes to its claustrophobic atmosphere.
• AO3: Connect the play's depiction of a leaderless teenage group to social anxieties about youth alienation prevalent in the 2000s.
• AO3: Discuss how the play's shocking subject matter and moral ambiguity can be seen as a legacy of provocative British drama.
• AO3: Relate the theme of constructing a shared narrative to the power of storytelling and propaganda to shape reality.
• AO4: Choose a precise range of vocabulary so each sentence communicates its interpretation clearly and for the intended analytical purpose.
• AO4: Control sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, using complete sentences and secure clause boundaries.
• AO4: Use accurate spelling and punctuation throughout, including sentence boundaries, possessive apostrophes and punctuation around embedded quotations.

Common mistakes and how to put them right

• Treating the characters as real people rather than dramatic constructs.

  Put it right by analysing how Kelly's choices shape audience response.

• Retelling the plot instead of analysing method.

  Put it right by linking every point to a technique and its effect.

• Ignoring stage directions and performance elements.

  Put it right by commenting on pauses, lighting, sound or movement where relevant.

Exam tips

• Structure your essay with a clear thesis statement in the introduction, then develop your argument by exploring relevant moments from the beginning, middle and end of the play.
• Embed short quotations and stage directions smoothly, then explain their effect rather than leaving them unexplained.