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Aloysia Rousseau, Dennis Kelly

Oxon & New York: Routledge, 2024, 200 p. ISBN: 9781032219752. 56,10 €
Déborah PRUDHON
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Aloysia Rousseau, Dennis Kelly. Oxon & New York: Routledge, 2024, 200 p. ISBN: 9781032219752. 56,10 €

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1Surprisingly, Aloysia Rousseau’s book, published in 2025, is the first monograph on Dennis Kelly’s oeuvre, despite his popularity in the UK and his importance on the contemporary British stage. Indeed, Dennis Kelly is a prolific and multifaceted author who has explored different media: plays, musicals, TV series and films. This volume does justice to his diverse body of work and offers a brilliant and rich in-depth analysis of his contributions to both stage and screen.

2The volume is divided into three parts, with a total of nine chapters followed by an appendix featuring an interview with Dennis Kelly conducted by Aloysia Rousseau in 2022. It is complemented by a comprehensive bibliography, an index and many photographs illustrating stage productions and screen works which support the analyses. Rousseau draws on a wealth of sources, including unpublished texts, works in production, and exclusive interviews with directors, actors, and Kelly himself.

3The first part of the volume, entitled “Life, Career and Key Notions,” scrutinises Kelly’s biographical background and unconventional career trajectory. This section challenges several assumptions about Kelly’s work, including his supposed apolitical stance, the extremity of violence in his work, and his pessimistic outlook on contemporary society. Aloysia Rousseau compellingly argues for a reading of Kelly’s oeuvre as both politically engaged and fundamentally optimistic.

4The second part, “Key Works,” offers an analysis of some of Kelly’s major plays (Love and Money, The Gods Weep, The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas, Osama the Hero, DNA, Orphans, Debris, Girls & Boys and After the End), series (The Third Day and Pulling) and films (Together) which are grouped thematically: the exploration of human nature, the individual and the collective, trauma narratives, and Kelly’s post-romanticism. Aloysia Rousseau deliberately avoids drawing a distinction between the various media which Kelly explores, instead suggesting points of entry into the different productions.

5Each chapter in this section adopts a distinct theoretical perspective, examining his work through a variety of critical prisms—including political philosophy, ethical philosophy, trauma studies, genre theory, and film studies. This multifaceted approach highlights the richness and eclecticism of the British author’s oeuvre. While the chapters stand on their own in terms of analytical frameworks, they are nonetheless tightly linked, a running thread weaving through the analyses, creating a coherent dialogue across Kelly’s diverse productions. Aloysia Rousseau identifies a set of recurring motifs—an obsession with truth and honesty, the psychology of violence, moral ambiguity, forgiveness and rehabilitation, and storytelling—that connect the various works under discussion.

6The third part of the volume, “Key Productions,” presents a detailed examination of three major works—a play, a musical, and a television series—highlighting how each has been interpreted and brought to life on stage and screen. In the opening chapter of this section, Aloysia Rousseau scrutinizes three productions of the one-woman play Girls & Boys: Lyndsey Turner’s original 2018 Production at the Royal Court Theatre in London, Mélanie Leray’s 2019 production at the Théâtre du Petit Saint-Martin in Paris, and Chloé Dabert’s 2020 production at the Comédie–Centre Dramatique National de Reims. For each of them, she offers a close analysis of the stage design and of the actress’s performance of the monologue. The chapter encapsulates Aloysia Rousseau’s approach throughout the volume, which lies in a balanced and complementary combination of close textual analysis and examination of productions—whether for stage or screen—offering valuable insights into Kelly’s body of work. The following chapter focuses on Kelly’s major popular success, Matilda the Musical, and its transfer from stage to screen. The analysis places particular emphasis on storytelling, one of the central motifs running through his work. This is also reflected on the beautiful cover of the volume, which features a carefully selected scene from Matilda in which the protagonist shares her invented story, “The Escapologist and the Acrobat,” with the librarian Mrs. Phelps—a narrative addition to Dahl’s original text. The final chapter is devoted to the television series Utopia (Channel 4, 2013-2014), a work in which “graphic violence alternates with sheer comedy” (139). This startling juxtaposition exemplifies one of the hallmarks of Kelly’s writing: his ability to balance unsettling themes with humour, a recurring feature examined throughout the book. Positioned as a concluding reflection, this chapter presents Utopia as a “synthesis of Kelly’s major preoccupations” (144), effectively bringing together the thematic threads explored across the volume. While the book does not offer a formal conclusion, this insightful analysis serves as a fitting closing gesture—though one might still regret the absence of a dedicated concluding chapter to fully reflect on the richness and coherence of this brilliant study. This was, however, a choice imposed by the structure of the publisher’s collection.

7This volume offers a remarkably rich and compelling exploration of Dennis Kelly’s work, fulfilling its stated aim “to shed light on sometimes overlooked yet essential aspects of his work for stage and screen in an attempt to grasp the essence of Kelly’s unique voice” (3) with impressive clarity and depth. Its convincing structure makes it easy to navigate, while guiding the reader through a wide range of productions and, along the way, illuminating key motifs. The book weaves together detailed textual analyses with insightful examinations of stage and screen productions, striking a fine balance between conceptual, textual, and performative approaches. Aloysia Rousseau’s writing stands out for its wit and finesse, offering fresh perspectives on Kelly’s work. The volume also pays close attention to the critical reception of Kelly’s plays and situates them within a broader international context, considering productions not only in the UK but also abroad.

8Altogether, this book presents a comprehensive and nuanced vision of Dennis Kelly’s oeuvre. It will be of great interest to students and scholars in Drama, Theatre, and Performance Studies, as well as to theatre practitioners and anyone curious about contemporary British theatre. It is a brilliant and timely contribution that will undoubtedly become a key reference in Kelly studies.

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Référence électronique

Déborah PRUDHON, « Aloysia Rousseau, Dennis Kelly »e-Rea [En ligne], 22.2 | 2025, mis en ligne le 15 juin 2025, consulté le 19 juillet 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/erea/19682 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/144qf

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Auteur

Déborah PRUDHON

Aix-Marseille Université, LERMA, Aix-en-Provence, France

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