The Power of Fear and Joy: The Young’s Emotional Agency in Dennis Kelly’s Our Teacher’s a Troll and DNA

17th INTERNATIONAL IDEA CONFERENCE: STUDIES IN ENGLISH, Elazığ, Turkey, 7 May - 09 June 2025, pp.152-153, (Summary Text)

The Power of Fear and Joy: The Young’s Emotional Agency in Dennis Kelly’s Our

Teacher’s a Troll and DNA

Dr. Hande Dirim Kılıç, Kocaeli University, Türkiye

Dennis Kelly’s plays often interrogate the intricate dynamics of youth, emotion, and morality

and how power dynamics and relationships shape the experiences of young characters. This

paper examines the portrayal of the youth’s and children's emotional experiences—particularly

joy and fear—in Kelly’s DNA (2008) and Our Teacher’s a Troll (2009) through the lens of age

studies. Both plays centre on young characters navigating morally complex situations, and

emphasize the distinct ways their emotions are articulated, suppressed, or manipulated. In Our

Teacher’s a Troll, a fantastical and satirical narrative explores joy and fear as tools of resilience

and rebellion against authoritarianism, Kelly highlights the creative agency of children.

Conversely, DNA ventures into darker psychological terrains, where fear triggers collective

guilt, peer coercion, and moral disintegration. Using age studies as a critical framework, this

paper interrogates how Kelly’s representations challenge adult-centric perspectives on

emotional expression, offering nuanced depictions of youth’s and children’s agency and

vulnerability. By analysing the interplay between power dynamics, peer relationships, and

emotional landscapes in these works, the study explores how Kelly confronts traditional

narratives of emotional maturation and stereotypical perceptions youth and childhood as sites

of both innocence and potential deviance.

Keywords: Age studies, childhood, youth, joy, fear, emotional agency.