Summary (DNA)

A summary of the play DNA by Dennis Kelly, breaking the action down by Act.

A group of teenagers do something bad, really bad, then panic and cover the whole thing up.  But when they find that their cover-up unites them and brings harmony to their once fractious lives, where is the incentive to put things right.

Act 1

• Scene 1: Mark and Jan discuss that someone is ‘dead’ and this throws the audience into the middle of the action.
• Scene 2: Leah talks and Phil eats.  Leah wants answers to know what Phil is thinking.
• Scene 3: John Tate is clearly stressed and ties to ban others using the word ‘dead’.  He tries to keep control over the group by using fear and threats.  Richard threatens his leadership but this is suppressed. When Mark and Jan arrive they explain to the group their version of events leading up to Adam falling into the grille.  They try to justify their vicious attack on him by saying he was laughing.  Phil finally speaks and devises a plan to frame a non-existent person.
• Scene 4: Leah speaks about bonobos being our nearest relatives.  ‘Chimps are evil.  They murder each other…they kill and sometimes torture each other to find a better position within the social structure’ (p26).  This could be seen as the author’s voice coming through about how he feels about the nature of bullies.

Act 2

• Scene 1: The audience learn that someone is ‘not going’…this is a reference to Brian not going to the police station
• Scene 2: Leah is still trying to gain Phil’s attention.  This time she talks about the nature of happiness.  She shows him a Tupperware container and says it is Jerry.  She describes how she has killed him.
• Scene 3: The police have found a man that fits the description of the man that Phil concocted because Cathy used her ‘initiative’ to find a man that matched the description.  The plan has gone wrong.  Brian is refusing to go into the police station to identify the man who is being framed.  Phil threatens him with being taken up to the grille if he doesn’t go.  Brian goes.
• Scene 4: Leah tries to get Phil’s attention again.  This time she has déjà vu.          

Act 3

• Scene 1:  Jan and Mark reveal Cathy has ‘found someone’ in the woods.  It turns out to be Adam
• Scene 2: Leah arrives in the scene with a packed suitcase.  She is trying to gain Phil’s  attention by threatening to leave and telling him not to try and stop her...he doesn’t.  She tells him about Adam’s memorial and that she has seen Cathy on the TV.  She tells him that everyone is happier ‘funny this is they’re all actually behaving better as well….’ (p47).
• Scene 3: Adam is alive and has been living in a hedge.  He has survived by living off dead animals.  He has clearly sustained a head injury.  Phil instructs Jan, Mark and Lou to leave and not say anything.  He shows Cathy how to kill Adam by tying a plastic bag around Brian’s head (who is by not on medication and is clearly losing his mind).  Leah begs him not to do this.
• Scene 4:  Leah does not speak.  Phil offers her a sweet and as he puts his arm round her to show affection, she spits out the sweet and leaves in disgust.  Phil shouts after her.

Act 4

• Scene 1: Jan and Mark reveal someone has ‘gone’.  This turns out to be Leah.
• Scene 2: Richard tries to convince Phil to re-join the group.  He tries to gain his attention in similar ways to Leah.  Phil does not speak.  He also does not eat.  Leah’s departure has clearly affected him.  Richard tells him what has happened to the rest of the group.