PHIL:
What's more important? One person or everyone?
NARRATOR:
'The nature of gangs'.
JOHN TATE:
I'm finding this all quite stressful, do you know that?I'm under a lot of stress!
NARRATOR:
'The nature of bullies.'
CATHY:
Talk about mad?
LAUGHS
CATHY:
I mean, It's quite exciting as well though, isn't it?!
NARRATOR:
'Responsibility and morality.'
LEAH:
Chimps are evil. They murder each other, did you know that?
NARRATOR:
'And evil Chimps. These are some of the themes of DNA.
NARRATOR:
'After a bullying incident goes wrong, the ties which bind a group of teenagers are tested to the limit.'
JOHN TATE:
I'm finding this all quite stressful, do you know that? I'm under a lot of stress.
NARRATOR:
'Becoming a member of the gang is fiercely competitive It costs a boy called Adam his life.'
RICHARD:
Oh yeah he wanted to be part of the gang. I mean everyone wants to be a part of the gang but he wanted it so bad he even ate the leaves. Big fist full of leaves, that’s not even the half of it!
MARK:
And Someone pegged a stone at him. Not to hit him, just for the laugh and you should have seen his face. I mean the fear the, It was so... You had to laugh right? The expression, the fear.
NARRATOR:
'It's clear that the gang has its own set of rules, which override those of the world outside. Going outside the gangs ranks, is a no-no.'
JOHN TATE:
That just leaves you Brian, you crying little piece of filth.
BRIAN:
I think we should tell someone.
RICHARD:
No matter what the circumstance, you know the gang will defend itself. Not just from outsiders, but from itself. Weak leaders are seen as threats. And they constantly have to be on the lookout for challenges. Defiantly a victim of that.
NARRATOR:
'Bullying plays an important part in defining the social order and cohesion of the group. The most ruthless rise to the top.'
PHIL:
I'm in charge. Everyone is happier. What's more important? One person or everyone?
NARRATOR:
'This is Phil When John Tate runs of to find God, he gets replaced by him.'
PHIL:
We'll get you by the arms, by the legs, and were swing you onto the grill. We'll throw rocks at you till you drop through, you'll drop through. You'll fall into the cold, into the dark. You'll land on Adams corpse and you'll rot together.
NARRATOR:
'And if you think he's bad, his replacement is even more psychopathic.'
RICHARD:
Cathy doesn't care, she's too busy running things. You wouldn’t believe how thingshave got. Phil, she's insane! She cut a first years finger off! That’s what they say anyway. Doesn't that bother you? Aren’t you bothered?!
NARRATOR:
'It certainly seems to bother Dennis Kelly. In his world, unchecked bullying inevitably leads to tyranny.'
LEAH:
Chimps are evil... they murder each other. Did you know that? They kill and torture each other to find a better position within the social structure.
NARRATOR:
'It's too much for some. John Tate leaves the group. And Brian made to act against his moral instincts, completely loses his sanity.'
BRIAN:
Go and eat the earth somewhere? Shall we eat the earth? I wonder what the earth tastes like? What do you think? Do you think it tastes earthy?
NARRATOR:
'Even Leah can only handle so much before she leaves. It might not be bullying, but Phil's torturous silences eventually drive her away.'
LEAH:
I sometimes think you're not human. I sometimes think I wonder, what would you do if I killed myself right here in front of you? What would you do? What would you do Phil?! I kind of wonder if people have always behaved like this?
LEAH:
You know, being bullies? Within a group? Or if it’s a constant theme of human history. Does that bother you Phil?
NARRATOR:
'Responsibility is something the gang is keen to avoid.'
PHIL:
Everyone else stays calm, keep your mouth shut. Tell no one or we'll all go to prison. Just get on with things.
NARRATOR:
'No one wants to take the blame for Adams manslaughter.'
MARK:
We dismiss Adams torture--
JAN:
As harmless fun.
MARK:
You had to laugh, the expression, the fear...
JAN:
And pass some of the blame onto Adam--
MARK:
Himself! Dismissing him as--
JAN:
A nutter!
MARK:
And making out--
JAN:
He was enjoying it!
MARK:
He was laughing harder than anyone!
JAN:
And Leah both denies the groups responsibility,
MARK:
and then suggests the blame should be shared
BOTH:
collectively!
MARK:
Brilliant.
LEAH:
Can I just say John, we haven't done anything But if we have done a thing, which we haven't, but if have than we did it together! Whatever we did, we did. Me and Phil, It wasn’t just Phil.
NARRATOR:
'And when Phil becomes leader, he tries to deflect the blame altogether by blaming an imaginary pervert.'
PHIL:
Brian you cry and you tell them a man showed you his willy in the woods.
BRIAN:
What?!
PHIL:
By the bridge, last week. A fat Caucasian male, Five-nine say, with thinning hair and a postman's uniform. Sad eyes... Softly spoken.
CATHY:
Phil's strategy is to lie and do anything to maintain that lie.
CATHY:
He gets us to frame an innocent person, gets someone to identify the body and kill Adam when he turns up alive.
PHIL:
What's more important? One person or everyone?
JOHN TATE:
Phil's right, a leaders responsibly is to the gang.
JOHN TATE:
No one else. Not the people outside... nor their morals.
LEAH:
A Chimp will find itself on the outside of a group and before he knows it he's been hounded to death by the others. Sometimes for months!
NARRATOR:
'Finally, Kelly uses his brightest character to get us to contemplate "what is the nature of being human?"
LEAH:
For years we thought that Chimps were our closest living relative but now they're saying it’s Bonobos.
NARRATOR:
'What kind of animal are we?'
LEAH:
Bonobos are the complete opposite of Chimps. When a stranger Bonobo approaches the pack... the other Bonobos all come out and go "Ello mate!"
NARRATOR:
'Are we to be like Chimps? Or our closest relatives, the sociable Bonobos? Kelly seems to imply that we can choose to be one or the other.'
LEAH:
Because, even me myself, perhaps the most bonobo-like empathetic character Kills a pet to try and get attention. I mean, I'm not even sure why. But the playwright yeah? Dennis Kelly yeah? He seems to be asking us, what should humans be? Should we be moral creatures? Or should we prepared to abandon all morality to preserve a group? Like, is Phil evil like a Chimp? Or is he acting out of a sense of a warped morality when he sacrifices Adam and the postal worker, for the group? What do you think Phil? Phil? Phil?
