Dennis Kelly

Dennis Kelly
Born	1970 Barnet, London, England
Occupation	Playwright, Television Scriptwriter
Nationality	British
Notable work(s)	Debris(2003) Love and Money (2006) Osama the Hero (2005) DNA(2007) Orphans (2009) Matilda, A Musical (2010)
Influences Caryl Churchill

Dennis Kelly (born 1970 in Barnet, London) is a London-based writer for both the theatre and television. He is perhaps best known for co-writing BBC Three's sitcom Pulling with the actress Sharon Horgan and for co-writing the hit musical Matilda the Musical with comedian Tim Minchin.

Early life

Kelly grew up in a council estate in Barnet, North London, in an Irish family and was brought up a Catholic. His father was a bus conductor, and Kelly, one of five children, left school at 16 to work in Sainsburys.

While working in supermarkets, he discovered theatre when he joined a local youth group, the Barnet Drama Centre. He took a degree in Drama and Theatre Arts when he was 30 and received a first from Goldsmiths College, London.

Work

Kelly wrote his first play Debris when he was 30, he says he wrote it imagining he'd give himself a part. Staged at Theatre 503 in 2003 it transferred the next year to Battersea Arts Centre. It was well received and he went on to write the controversially titled Osama the Hero which was produced by Hampstead Theatre beginning a long relationship with the theatre that he would return to often.

After the End he wrote in 2005 and produced by Paines Plough in his first out of London production at Traverse though it later came to the Bush Theatre before going on a tour of the UK and internationally in 2006.

Love and Money, arguably one of his most famous plays was ataged at the Royal Exchange, Manchester and then at the Young Vic in 2006. That same year his sitcom Pulling co-written and starring Sharon Horgan on BBC Three. It received good ratings for the channel and was well reviewed being nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for Best Situation Comedy in 2007.

Returning to theatre and the Hampstead Theatre in 2007 his fake verbatim play Taking Care of Baby which was another success for both writer and theatre.

For the 2007 National Theatre Connections Festival he wrote DeoxyriboNucleic Acid (better known by the title DNA) which after the connections received a profesional production alongside The Miracle by Lin Coghlan and Baby Girl by Roy Williams at the National Theatre in the Cottesloe . The play is now used widely in schools and is on several curriculums for GCSE drama.

The second series of Pulling ran in 2008 and won a British Comedy Award however the series was not renewed for a third series however in 2009 an hour long special closed the series. That same year he also wrote an episode for Series 8 of Spooks.

In 2009 his play Orphans was staged at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre before transferring to the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Kelly was one of the ten writers who took part in writing monologues based on a children's account for a one off event at the Old Vic Theatre directed by Danny Boyle in London in support of Dramatic Need in 2010. His three monologues were performed by Ben Kingsley, Jenny Jules and Charlie Cox.

In 2010 Kelly returned to the Hampstead Theatre once more for his response to Shakespeare's King Lear The Gods Weep starring Jeremy Irons however reviews were mixed. His next theatrical venture however faired much better, his musical version of Roald Dahl's Matilda co-written with comedian Tim Minchin was a hit at the RSC in 2011. It transferred to the West End and has won several awards including Best Musical at the Evening Standard Awards, Critics Circle and Theatre Awards.

His work has been produced in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Slovakia, Holland, Ireland, Iceland, The Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, Australia, Japan, the United States, Belgium, Romania and Canada. Other work includes translations of Péter Kárpáti’s The Fourth Gate (National Theatre Studio) and The Colony, a radio play which won Best European Radio Drama at the Prix Europa, 2004.

Theatre work

• Children's Monologues True Love, Sums and Christmas 2010 one off event at the Old Vic Theatre
• Matilda, A Musical 2010, music by Tim Minchin premiered in Stratford
• The Gods Weep 2010 premiered at the Hampstead Theatre
• The Prince of Homburg 2010 a translation, original by Heinrich von Kleist premiered at the Donmar Warehouse
• Orphans 2009 premiered at the Traverse Theatre transferred to the Soho Theatre
• Our Teacher's a Troll 2009 premiered at Hull Theatre
• D.N.A part of National Theatre Connections 2007
• Taking Care of Baby 2007 premiered at the Birmingham Rep
• Love and Money 2006 premiered at the Royal Exchange Theatre
• Osama the Hero 2005 premiered at the Hampstead Theatre
• After the End 2005 premiered at the BAC
• Rose Bernd 2005 premiered at Arcola
• The Fourth Gate 2004 a translation, original play by Peter Karpati, premiered at the National Theatre
• Debris 2003 premiered at Theatre 503
• Brendan's Visit 1997 premiered at the Etcetera Theatre

Radio work

• The Colony, 2004

Television work

• Sppoks BBC Series 8
• Pulling for BBC Three co written with Sharon Horgan

Pulling

Kelly said that writing for TV and theatre is very unusual as Pulling is a comedy and not theatrical unlike his plays which are serious and often non naturalistic. Kelly said "telling people from the world of TV that I also inhabit the world of theatre is something I've begun to avoid."
Despite very good reviews and good ratings Pulling was cancelled in 2007. The decision by the BBC was much criticised and Kelly and Horgan claimed to have cried and threw themselves at their feet over the decision. Most striking about Pulling is its lack of a moral centre. In an interview with The Guardian Horgan said "I guess there isn't a moral centre because Dennis and I don't have one." Kelly then said "That's scary. Fuck. We need to get a moral centre. Shit. It's really true. But we do try to make sure we don't get nasty for the sake of it. We make sure there's a bit of heart. "

Awards

Year	Award Ceremony	Category	Nominee	Result
2011	Evening Standard Awards	Best Musical	Matilda the Musical	Won
2011	Critics Circle Award	Best Musical	Matilda the Musical	Won
2011	London Theatre Award	Best Musical	Matilda the Musical	Won
2011	TMA	Best Musical	Matilda the Musical	Won
2009	Edinburgh Festival	The Fringe First	Orphans	Won
2009	Edinburgh Festival	Herald Angel	Orphans	Won
2009	British Comedy Award	Best Television Comedy	Pulling	Won
2007	TMA	Best New Play	Taking Care of Baby	Nominated
2007	Laurence Olivier Awards	Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre	Love and Money	Nominated
2007	BAFTA TV Award	Best Situation Comedy	Pulling	Nominated

External links

• Dennis Kelly at the Internet Movie Database
• Keble O'Reilly Love and Money, 24–27 November
• entry on Doollee
• "I can’t imagine a more violent writer than Shakespeare." London Evening Standard, 9 March 2010