Girls and Boys

• Author: Dennis Kelly
• Title: Girls and Boys
• Published: 2018
• Director: Lyndsey Turner
• Trivia: Kelly’s new play had its world premier at
• The Royal Court Theatre in February 2018, starring Carey Mulligan.
• Trivia: Kelly began work on Girls and Boys over two years ago in Naples airport
• while waiting, …like the character in his play, for a flight.
• Trivia: tipped to be nominated for Olivier Award 2018
• Nominees are to be announced 06 March 2018.
• Trivia: List Reading Challenges 2018
  
• Monthly reading planning
• List of Plays ( TBR)

Notes:

1. I never heard of David Kelly but the review of Girls and Boys caught my eye.
2. It is praised as a master performance by Carey Mulligan.
3. I wonder what all the hype is about?
4. Dennis Kelly (1970) is a British writer for film, television and theatre.

Can you be taught to write plays?

1. According to Mel Kenyon (D. Kelly’s literary agent)
2. “I believe there is something instinctive about being able to create a dramatic arc.”
3. “There are plays that masquerade as plays,
4. with a big three-act structure,
5. but there is no life force, no propulsion
6. …they’re static. You can’t teach that.
7. Dennis Kelly is a natural playwright.
8. He feels a person’s pulse and expresses it in words.
9. #Amazing

Notes:

1. There is no dedication.
2. Kelly only adds a list of names of people he would like to thank.
3. Sally Hawkins, actress.
4. Lucy Kirkwood, Stephen Stephens British playwrights.
5. Mel Kenyon is Kelly’s  literary agent.
6. Matthew Warchus is Kelly’s friend
7. …an award winning director.
8. But the last person surprised me….
9. …Euripides!
10. But wasn’t Euripides a writer of classical tragedies?

Conclusion:

1. This is not your usual list of acts and scenes.
2. Kelly divides the play into
3. 7 chats – narrator’s thoughts, life, job, marriage…at times flashbacks.
4. 6 scenes – narrator’s daily grind at home
5. …while confronting the antics of her two toddlers
6. …Leanne (7 yr) and Danny (4 yr) (hysterical)
7. …in one-sided conversations.
8. It is just one actress…telling her story.
9. Carey Mulligan is on the stage alone for 90 minutes
10. …and charts with consummate skill the
11. …disintegration of a relationship.
12. This is a monologue.
13. A potentially powerful but nonetheless simple form of theatre
14. I was  ‘blown away’…..by this play…utterly…
15. #Unforgettable.
16. I only wish I could see it on stage in London.
17. #MustSee…if you are able to get tickets!