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DNA - Context

Explore the social and historical context of DNA, examining how debates about youth crime, peer pressure, and responsibility shape the play’s unsettling world.

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Fascinating Fact:

Themes of leadership, complicity, and moral responsibility reflect debates about youth crime and accountability in late-modern Britain.

In GCSE English Literature, understanding the context of DNA means exploring how modern fears about young people, crime, and blame shape the play’s setting, characters, and moral questions.

Key Terms

Context: The social, historical, and cultural background that helps explain a text’s ideas, characters, and setting.
Social commentary: When a text reflects or criticises real-world attitudes, behaviours, or problems in society.
Moral responsibility: The expectation that individuals and groups should act ethically and accept the consequences of their choices.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

What is the context of DNA by Dennis Kelly for GCSE?

The context of DNA includes modern concerns about youth crime, bullying, and peer pressure. The play reflects debates about who is to blame when a group goes too far.

How does the context of DNA affect its themes?

The late-modern context shapes themes of responsibility and complicity. Characters’ fear of being blamed mirrors real-world anxieties about image, reputation, and the justice system.

Why should I mention context in a DNA GCSE exam answer?

Mentioning context in a GCSE answer shows you understand how DNA links to real-life issues. It helps you explain why characters behave as they do and why themes matter today.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .

Kelly has said that his play's exploration of "whether it was right to sacrifice the individual for the many" was prompted by which of the following?

The Second World War

July 2005 bombings in London

The 2011 summer riots

Western foreign policy

Kelly said, of western foreign policy and its response to terrorism: "I felt our fear meant we were in danger (as we are now) of over-reacting and curbing our own liberties and the liberties of others"

2 .

The play draws upon which of the following:

Adult anxiety about, and fear of, teenagers

Fear of immigrants

Political anger about employment conditions

Contemporary despair about educational policy

It is easily possible to imagine the events of DNA as they might appear in a newspaper. The play tells the story from the perspective of its teenaged protagonists. As the audience, we know everything which the adults located on the edge of events do not know

3 .

“I don’t think he’s getting any kind of enjoyment out of it. He’s trying to make the best out of a bad situation – what he does is flawed but it’s also natural. When I was a kid I felt that parents and adults weren’t anything to do with my world. We sorted out our own problems, often in a terrifying way, and I think he’s actually trying to do something good.”

Dennis Kelly defends one of his characters from accusation of being a psychopath in this quotation from The Telegraph. Which character?

Cathy

Leah

Adam

Phil

It is always interesting to hear an author discuss his or her own view of characters. In this quotation, what is terrifying is the absence of adult solutions to - or even awareness of - problems which are clearly visible to young people

4 .

In the play, Jan and Mark take the role of ...

the audience

an aside

the narrator

the chorus

In ancient Greek theatre, a "chorus" was a group of actors who related events to the audience, informing them of whatever had happened in the past, or off-stage. The chorus also responded emotionally to the events occurring on stage and sometimes pronounced judgements on characters

5 .

Many television crime dramas rely upon the notion of DNA evidence as proof of guilt. Which of the following is correct?

The evidence provided by the postal worker's DNA present on Adam's jumper is mere coincidence

In the play, the matching of DNA to the guilty perpetrator of the crime demonstrates how reliable this evidence is

The DNA proving the guilt of the postal worker is just as false as the rest of the group's invented explanation for Adam's disappearance

The title DNA has nothing to do with the events of the play

Cathy's targeted collection of DNA from the postal worker is part of the elaborate construction of a guilty suspect

6 .

The author of a play is known as a ...

screenwriter

poet

playwright

copywriter

Dennis Kelly is a playwright. Remember that it's "wright", not "write" or "right"!

7 .

Adam's name is a reminder of what?

The travels of Odysseus

The Apocalypse

The biblical story of creation

Shakespeare's play Macbeth

Adam's name alludes to the biblical creation story, most notably in the idea of a "fall" in which all people are caught up. In some ways, the events represent the story of Adam's sons, Cain and Abel. Whereas Cain is punished by God for the murder of his brother, the group in the play continue to live with the after-effects of the murder of Adam, punished by their own consciences

8 .

When was DNA first performed?

1987

1997

2007

2017

The play first went on national tour in 2012

9 .

Where was DNA first performed?

The National Theatre

The Globe Theatre

Royal Exchange Theatre

Edinburgh Playhouse

The National Youth Theatre has performed the play as recently as 2017

10 .

Which of the following is correct?

DNA is a play dealing with a historical event which changes meaning for each generation

DNA is a play dislocated to a certain extent from a particular time and space

DNA is a play concerning very recent historical events and is only relevant to "millennials"

DNA is fantasy and does not claim to have any relevance to its audience

DNA addresses themes which are perpetually relevant to humankind, especially good and evil, the relationship between the individual and community, and the tendency for young people to feel isolated when facing enormous problems

Author: Sheri Smith (PhD English Literature, English Teacher & Quiz Writer)