Debris (play)

Last updated
Debris
Written by Dennis Kelly
CharactersMichael (Male)
Michelle (Female)
Date premieredApril 2003
theatre 503 in London
Original language English
Genre in-yer-face theatre

Debris is an in-yer-face play by Dennis Kelly. It was first produced at the Latchmere Theatre (now Theatre 503) [1] in London in 2003, before being transferred to Battersea Arts Centre the next year.

Contents

Plot

A one-act play about a brother and sister, Michael and Michelle, who are trying to make sense of their dysfunctional childhood. The pair lie about their past, creating elaborate new stories. The central narrative involves Michael finding a baby, who he names Debris, and how he tries to keep him from his alcoholic father. He confides only in Michelle, who remains fascinated by their mother's death, and gives several contradicting stories of how she died.

In the first scene the brother describes coming home to see his father who has committed suicide by crucifixion. Kelly has said "I was brought up a Catholic, so, like every decent Catholic, as a child I fantasised about being crucified - it must have come from there" [2]

Production

Kelly original had problems getting Debris produced until approaching Theatre 503 "The play had been rejected by pretty much every other theatre around but 503 saw something in the play and decided to abandon common sense and produce it. For me it was one of the most important moments in my life" [3]

Debris was developed whilst Kelly was on attachment at the National Theatre Studio.

Notable productions

Premiere

April 2003 at The Latchmere Theatre (now Theatre503), London. Directed by Tessa Walker.

10th Anniversary Production

23 April 2013 at the Southwark Playhouse, London. Directed by Abigail Graham. [4]

Notes

  1. "Dennis Kelly - playwright". www.doollee.com. Archived from the original on 2006-07-06.
  2. "In pursuit of monsters".
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-07-13. Retrieved 2015-07-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Debris". 23 April 2014.


Related Research Articles

Tom Stoppard British playwright

Sir Tom Stoppard is a Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, Travesties, The Invention of Love, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

Pete Postlethwaite English character actor

Peter William Postlethwaite, was an English character actor. He appeared in In the Name of the Father (1993), Sharpe (1994), The Usual Suspects (1995), Dragonheart (1996), James and the Giant Peach (1996), Romeo + Juliet (1996), Brassed Off (1996), Amistad (1997), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Animal Farm (1999), The Constant Gardener (2005), Clash of the Titans (2010), Inception (2010), and The Town (2010).

<i>Long Days Journey into Night</i> Play by Eugene ONeill

Long Day's Journey into Night is a play in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939–41, first published posthumously in 1956. The play is widely considered to be his magnum opus and one of the finest American plays of the 20th century. It premiered in Sweden in February 1956 and then opened on Broadway in November 1956, winning the Tony Award for Best Play.

<i>Skellig</i> Childrens novel by David Almond

Skellig is a children's novel by the British author David Almond, published by Hodder in 1998. It was the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year and it won the Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's outstanding children's book by a British author. In the US it was a runner up for the Michael L. Printz Award, which recognises one work of young adult fiction annually. Since publication, it has also been adapted into a play, an opera, and a film. In 2010, a prequel entitled My Name is Mina was published, written by David Almond himself.

<i>Blood Brothers</i> (musical) Musical by Willy Russell

Blood Brothers is a musical with book, lyrics, and music by Willy Russell. The story is a contemporary nature versus nurture plot, revolving around fraternal twins Mickey and Eddie, who were separated at birth, one subsequently being raised in a wealthy family, the other in a poor family. The different environments take the twins to opposite ends of the social spectrum, one becoming a councillor, and the other unemployed and in prison. They both fall in love with the same girl, causing a rift in their friendship and leading to the tragic death of both brothers. Russell says that his work was based on a one-act play that he read as a child "about two babies switched at birth ... it became the seed for Blood Brothers."

Paula Vogel American playwright

Paula Vogel is an American playwright who received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play How I Learned to Drive. A longtime teacher, Vogel spent the bulk of her academic career – from 1984 to 2008 – at Brown University, where she served as Adele Kellenberg Seaver Professor in Creative Writing, oversaw its playwriting program, and helped found the Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium. From 2008 to 2012, Vogel was Eugene O'Neill Professor of Playwriting and department chair at the Yale School of Drama, as well as playwright in residence at the Yale Repertory Theatre.

Les Dennis English television presenter, actor, and comedian

Leslie Dennis Heseltine is an English television presenter, actor, and comedian. He presented Family Fortunes from 1987 until 2002.

<i>The Beautiful Game</i> (musical)

The Beautiful Game is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton about a group of teenagers growing up during The Troubles in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1969.

<i>Dancing at Lughnasa</i> 1990 play by dramatist Brian Friel

Dancing at Lughnasa is a 1990 play by dramatist Brian Friel set in County Donegal in Ulster in the north of Ireland in August 1936 in the fictional town of Ballybeg. It is a memory play told from the point of view of the adult Michael Evans, the narrator. He recounts the summer in his aunts' cottage when he was seven years old.

Six Characters in Search of an Author is an Italian play by Luigi Pirandello, written and first performed in 1921. An absurdist metatheatric play about the relationship among authors, their characters, and theatre practitioners, it premiered at the Teatro Valle in Rome to a mixed reception, with shouts from the audience of "Manicomio!" ("Madhouse!") and "Incommensurabile!", a reaction to the play's illogical progression. Reception improved at subsequent performances, especially after Pirandello provided for the play's third edition, published in 1925, a foreword clarifying its structure and ideas.

True West is a play by American playwright Sam Shepard.

Gabrielle Drake is a British actress. She appeared in the 1970s in television series The Brothers and UFO. In the early 1970s she appeared in several erotic roles on screen. She later took parts in soap operas Crossroads and Coronation Street. She has also had a stage career.

Laura Michelle Kelly British actress

Laura Michelle Kelly is an English actress and singer, best known for originating the roles of Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins in the West End and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies in Finding Neverland on Broadway.

Zoe Slater Fictional character in BBC soap opera

Zoe Slater is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Michelle Ryan. She made her first appearance on 18 September 2000. Zoe arrives in Walford along with her father, Charlie, sisters Kat, Lynne and Little Mo, and grandmother Mo.

<i>Mary Poppins</i> (musical) 2004 stage musical

Mary Poppins is a musical with music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman and additional music and lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, and a script by Julian Fellowes. The musical is based on the similarly titled Mary Poppins children's books by P. L. Travers and the 1964 Disney film, and is a fusion of various elements from the two, including songs from the film.

<i>Up for Grabs</i> (play)

Up For Grabs is a play by Australian playwright David Williamson.

Dennis Kelly is a British scriptwriter for theatre, television and film.

Theatre503 Theatre

Theatre503, formerly the Latchmere Theatre, is a theatre located at 503 Battersea Park Road in Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth, above the Latchmere pub. The venue is known for promoting the work of new writers.

The Apathists were a collective of British playwrights who staged plays and happenings in London between March 2006 and March 2007. The events generated a cult following on the London theatre scene. The collective had a festival of their work at the Union Theatre produced by David Luff and were involved in the 2006 Latitude Festival, but their work mainly centred on monthly nights at Theatre503, formerly the Latchmere Theatre.

Tom Harvey MBE is a BAFTA winning creative and cultural sector leader and writer.