Girls and Boys

A one-woman play about an intense, passionate relationship that slowly unravels.

This one-woman play by Dennis Kelly ran at the Royal Court, London, before lockdown and is receiving its first-ever performances in Cornwall from TOUCH theatre, a community theatre group based in West Cornwall.

TOUCH has hitherto performed plays written only by female playwrights, in part because female authors tend to write better, more challenging stage roles for women, in part because their writing almost always deals with different perspectives from those to which we have become accustomed in the work of male authors. But Dennis Kelly is an exceptional male dramatist. He has written a role so meaty that it makes Hogarth’s ‘The Roast Beef of Old England’ look like a vegetarian snackette. Playing this very challenging role is Emma Phillips, a long-time collaborator with TOUCH theatre and a massively impressive actor.

It is a gripping one-woman show which raises important questions and gives Emma an unparalleled opportunity to dominate the stage. In rehearsals, she has explored the flair she displayed in Precious Little for displaying multiple characters onstage and has extended her ability to communicate the extremes of emotion. It is difficult to go beyond this without giving huge plot spoilers, but fasten your safety belt and join us on a white knuckle ride. The playwright Dennis Kelly has a unique voice. He has written extensively for the theatre and uses his life experiences to write about the lives of ordinary people.

Kelly’s standing among British playwrights is definitely on the up. Girls and Boys followed a major West End hit in Matilda: The Musical (music by Tim Minchin) and highly regarded pieces for major regional theatres. His short play DNA is widely used in schools and is on several curriculums for GCSE drama. At his best, and this is one of his best, he creates intensely powerful images and is attuned to the need for theatricality (especially for The Big Reveal), giving him a unique status in contemporary British play writing.