DNA - Characters

They always appear together and at the beginning of each act. They act as a chorus to create anticipation and questions about what will happen next. 

They explained Adam's death and although Jan had to leave before the end, she and Mark are thought to have encourged the bullying that eventually resulted in Adam's death. The justify it and try to make it seem like it wasn't their fault. This shows their immaturity in the phrase "having a laugh, really, he was laughing." They believe it was a normal teenage thing that happened that went "a bit far."

They are assumed to be amongst the youngest of the group as they always look to Phil and others to know what to do. As seen in the phrase "Are we going to be in trouble?" and "What are we going to do?"

When Cathy frames the innocent man, Mark says "It was her idea" which shows he's disloyal and immature. 

They feel guilty for what they did as said by Leah and they do things they wouldn't normally do like Jan "helping a first year find the gym" and Mark doing "charity work" At the end of the play they become shoplifters due to their lack of moral compass. 

Leah is known throughout the play for her monologues in which she talks to Phil, her boyfriend, but he ignores her so it ends up being a monologue with only her speaking. 

She is thought to be very intelligent because of a lot of the subjects she talks about in her monologues including her Bonobo and chimps speech, talk of the universe and other psychological things. "a billion nuclear reactions a second" "Bonobos are the complete opposite of chimps"

She is very insecure due to Phil's emotional bullying because of him ignoring her. She always questions and doubts herself. "No, don't tell me, sorry, that's a stupid" She admires Phil and so doesn't say anything or try to stop him early on but when it gets too far she takes control and leaves because she can't stop them. 

She knows that there is more to life than their gang and their school. She is the only character that seems to undertsand the consequences and reality of Adam's and death and is shocked when Phil tells Cathy to kill him "Are you serious?". She has a moment of realisation "We used to go to his birthday parties" and she stops stumbling and hesitating. This makes her one of the most mature characters. She also has a very strong sense of right and wrong compared to the other characters. This makes her an outsider and so she does radical things like with her hamster when she "killed him" to try to fit in. 

At the beginning of the play, Phil doesn't speak at all and even when he does, other than when he's telling the others the plan, he says very little. He also says nothing when Leah talks to him even when she asks him a question. This is emotional bullying and causes Leah to be very insecure. He never shows any comfort or reassurence even when she looks to him for support. The only thing he says is when Leah finally leaves and he calls her back "Leah" 

He takes over control from John Tate when everyone starts panicking and comes up with the plan. He is shown to be very intelligent doe to the complex plan and thinks of the different characters roles. "Tell no one or we'll all go to prison" He bullys and threatens people into doing things. He pretendsto be a nice, comforting and warm person to Brian but ends up threatening him. This shows how sadistic, heartless and psychopathic he is. 

He eats a lot which gives an air of carelessness. He eats when Leah talks to him but doesn't after she left which suggests he missed her and overall shows there has been a massive change to him. Also "Phil puts his coke carefully on the ground" then tells the others his plan and then "starts to drink his coke." This shows the power shift.

Phil's life has been changed by Adam's death as shown when he is "staring at nothing" which could show depression. 

Lou is not a very bright or particularly major character. She quite outspoken and is very pessimistic. The repetition of "We are screwed" and "He's dead" "What if he goes to prison? [...] He's gonna go to prison" She doesn't say much but when she does she repeats a lot of it.

She is a follower and tends to do what the leaders tell her to do. However she still sometimes questions their decisions more than the other characters. She is very blunt and states the facts as they are. 

She's more of a selfish character and only cares about herself. She switches her loyalties very quickly and by the end of the play she becomes's Cathy's "best friend." They end up bullying people in school together which shows that they haven't learnt anything from Adam's death. They seem the least affected by everything. 

Her function is to demonstrate the effect of criminality on a weak character. 

John Tate is the original leader of the group but Phil takes over when he loses control. He finds it "all quite stressful." He doesn't speak again after that and he just does what Phil says. The phrase "New rule; that word is banned" shows the power he had when he was a leader. However, later on, he breaks his own rule and says "Dead. He's dead" right before Phil takes over.

When Jan and Mark tell the story of what happened with Adam he doesn't contribute even when they referred to him repeated "eh John"

He doesn't deal very well with Adam's death and Leah says he's "lost it" and "won't come out of his room." By the end of the play "John Tate's found god" and Richard tells Phil he's "joined the Jesus Army" 

His transformation from leader to turning to god contributes to the idea that different people deal differently. 

He is associated with themes of leadership, power, violence and bullying, good and evil, loyalty, truth and lies, guilt and religion. 

Danny is the only character who thinks of life beyond school. He repeated throughout the play that "dental college is part of the plan" and he sees Adams death as an inconvenience "dead people are not part of the plan" 

He's selfish and insensitive and his instincts for self-preservation are very strong and he shows no remorse. In the whole play, his main concern is always himself and his future. 

People tend to ignore him and he's not viewed as a very important part of the gang. He and Cathy have tension between them and Leah said he "threatened to kill Cathy" and they also tell each other to "shut up" 

When Phil tells Danny his part in the cover-up, he questions it as he doesn't want to be involved due to his self-preservation and Dental College plans. Although Danny is shocked by Phil's threats and decisions and says "Is he serious?" he still goes along with it and doesn't argue. 

At the end of the play, he goes to work experience at a dentists and "He hates it" because it reminds him of the grille and says "it feels like you're going to fall in"

At the start of the play, there is immediately signs of a power struggle between Richard and John Tate. Lou says she's scared of both of them in school. This suggests they both have power over the other characters. He also says "You shouldn't threaten me, John" which shocks us because no one else dared stand up to John Tate. However, When Phil takes over, Richard is seen to not always stand up and he seems weak against Phil.

Richard is never a leader himself but it's clear he's high up in the social hierarchy due to how he interacts with the other characters. Phil chooses him to take Brian to the head to report him seeing the man in the woods which suggests Richard is trustworthy and someone the teachers like. 

Leah tells Phil "Richard's named his dog Adam" which suggests he feels guilty and remorse. 

In the final scene, Richard replaces Leah in the field trying to get Phil "Come back." He tries to get his attention by doing a handstand but he ignores him. He also has feelings of realisation and psychological thoughts to do with the universe similar to Leah. Phil acts the same with Richard as he did with Leah. Richards role is to replace Leah which shows that things have changed and everyone has been affected but that the fundamentals of the characters aren't any different.  

Cathy is presented as a very psychopathic and dangerous character. She is seen as being inhumane. When Brian arrived crying, Cathy is "grinning" and she seems very excited about the situation with no remorse. She says its "quite exciting as well"

She seems to take joy from messing with the others and tries to cause arguments between them. She and Danny don't get along and they often tell each other to "shut up" 

She talks about the other characters being "clever" and she doesn't like Danny which could be because he's smart and has plans whereas she doesn't have any interest in academics. She could be jealous and feel like she's not as good as the others because they're smarter than her. 

She frames the postman for the murder and she claims that "we did what you said" but she could've been trying to make trouble due to the previous ideas that she found enjoyment in Adam's death. When the rest of the group talks about it, all she's worried about is that she might "get on the telly" which shows her selfishness. She doesn't understand the consequences the framed man would have to face and she is oblivious to how bad it is. 

She loves violence and is always threatening people. By the end of the play, she and Lou become best friends and the bullies of the school. Apparently "she cut a first year's finger off"

Brian is at the bottom of the social hierarchy and he is bullied by all the member of the gang to which no one stops as its seen as normal. Richard says he hates Brian and Phil threatens to kill him. Cathy also slaps him and no one seems to want to be with him or have to deal with him.

Brian is presented as a younger character and very weak. He is always crying and is pushed around by the others. He has a strong sense of right and wrong and he is strongly against having to frame an innocent man and that they "should tell someone." He refuses to confirm the man's identity and so Phil at first tries to coax him into doing it but eventually results in threatening him. 

Throughout the play, Brian seems to get more and more mentally ill and has to go on medication. This means that in scene three his is a bit delusional and seems to be mad. He is always giggling and laughing and says "shall we eat the earth?" before doing it among other things. 

Phil uses Brian as an example when he shows Cathy *********** Adam. This shocks the audience and they can't quite believe what they're seeing. Brian doesn't understand whats happening and says "this is brilliant" and Phil describes it as a game. 

His mental breakdown is another example of what grief and guilt can do to someone and he doesn't ever seem to get better when Richard says "Brian's on stronger and stronger medication"

Adam doesn't appear until halfway through the play but he's talked about by the other characters when they think "He's dead."

He wasn't very high in the social hierarchy and he was bullied a lot which leads to what they thought was his death. He was made to "eat some leaves", "nick some vodka" and they "stubbed out cigarettes on him" and "made him run across the motorway." 

When he appears from the woods where he was living, he is very disturbed, his speech was very disjointed and didn't make much sense. He had been living off insects and vegetation and he was very disorientated. He doesn't remember what happened to him. In the end, Phil orders Cathy to kill him when they find him alive because "Everyone thinks he's dead. What difference will it make?" He is presented as the victim in the play and is a sacrifice.

Leah says they "went to his birthday parties" which could suggest they were friends at some point. 

The fact Kelly named him Adam could be something to do with the bible and that the first man was called Adam. There is the possibility that it was to do with religion and have an allegorical interpretation but Kelly says that the names don't matter and that they could be changed.