Dennis Kelly's DNA is a play about a group of teenagers conspiring to cover up the death of a peer who falls into a ventilation shaft while being bullied by the group. It was first performed in 2008 in London.
Comprising four long scenes and featuring eleven on-stage characters, DNA opens with a group of friends panicking over the consequences of their classmate Adam's presumed death. Seeking advice from Phil, a taciturn acquaintance who wasn't involved in the bullying, the friends explain how they tortured and abused Adam under the pretense that they were all having fun seeing how far he would go to impress them. While Adam was standing on a metal grate suspended over a deep ventilation shaft, the others threw stones at him until he was hit in the head and knocked off the platform.
Phil devises an elaborate scheme in which each member of the group will play a role in making it appear as though Adam was abducted by a pedophile. Later, when a postal worker who fits the teens' description is linked by DNA to a jumper (sweater) belonging to Adam, the group learns that one of their members went beyond the original plan and framed an innocent man. Things become even more complicated when the friends discover that Adam is alive but has severe memory loss, having crawled out of the shaft and taken to living in the woods. To prevent their conspiracy from being exposed, Phil orders two members of the group to suffocate Adam with a plastic bag. At the end of the play, the teens have gotten away with their cover-up, but few members of the group hang out together anymore, and Phil's girlfriend has moved to another school.
Exploring themes of peer pressure, conspiracy, empathy, sadism, innocence, and exploitation, DNA depicts a group of teenagers sacrificing their morality to avoid the consequences of their actions. A reviewer for The Financial Times called it “A taut, compelling thriller and a modern-day spin on Lord of the Flies, exploring group behavior and moral equivocation.”
Originally commissioned by NT Education in 2007, the play debuted at the UK's National Theatre in February 2008. The play has been used as a teaching resource in secondary schools.
