Mark Ravenhill

Shopping and F***ing is... Falling in love with your best friend - if you can get the right mix of Es and whizz... Passion buried beneath layers of bubble and wrap and cellophane A world where microwaves are the only source of heat A place where Shopping is sexy and F***ing is a job... And if you killed someone what would it feel like? Or maybe there are no feelings left... Shopping and F***ing is a witty and shocking look at a corrosive disposable world whose values have been determined by a disinherited generation.SHOPPING AND FUCKING: "is a darkly humorous play for today's twenty-somethings ... a real coup de theatre" - Nicholas de Jongh, Evening Standard

Shopping and F***ing

Mark Ravenhill's Faust (Faust is Dead) is a dark and often brutally funny journey through a world of virtual reality The world's most famous philosopher arrives in Los Angeles and is greeted as a star. In a round of chat show appearances, he announces the Death of Man and the End of History. When he meets up with a young man who is on the run from his father, a leading software magnate, they embark on a hedonistic voyage across America. But in the play's bloody conclusion, they discover that not all events are virtual. "In Shopping and Fucking, Mark Ravenhill made theatre relevant to the Thatcher generation. Now he's put videos and Net-surfing in FAUST. And it's no less stunning." (The Guardian)

Faust is Dead

"In Shopping and Fucking, Mark Ravenhill made theatre relevant to the Thatcher generation. Now he's put videos and Net-surfing in Faust. And it's no less stunning" (Guardian) Twenty-eight years before The Importance of Being Earnest, a young woman gives birth to a baby boy. Is it an accident when Nanny places him in a handbag and her unpublished novel into the pram? In 1998 a new baby is stolen and an academic discovers an unpublished novel of more than usual revolting sentimentality. From Victorian wet nurses to 90s sperm banks, Mark Ravenhill's play examines the role of parenting in an age of diverse sexualities, biological engineering and Tinky Winky's handbag."There are few stage authors writing more interestingly than Mark Ravenhill . . . He is - it is now yet more evident - a searing, intelligent, disturbing sociologist with a talent for satirical dialogue and a flair for sexual sensationalism" (Financial Times)

Handbag

From the celebrated and controversial writer of Shopping and Fucking Some Explicit Polaroids premiered at the New Ambassadors Theatre, London in October 1999 in a production directed by Max Stafford-Clark for Out of Joint, prior to a national tour. "There are few stage authors writing more interestingly than Mark Ravenhill . . . He is - it is now yet more evident - a searing, intelligent, disturbing sociologist with a talent for satirical dialogue and a flair for sexual sensationalism" (Financial Times)

Some Explicit Polaroids

Terry Pratchett

The playscript of Mark Ravenhill's adaption of Terry Pratchitt's adventure story about two teenagers thrown together by a tsunami which has destroyed one of the boy's village and left Daphne shipwrecked, miles from home. The youths must survive and, as foretold by a profane parrot, establish a new Nation.

A Play

Nation

In London Came the plague in sixteen sixty five One hundred thousand dead But I alive. London is infected. The dead fall in the streets. As the plague pits fill, the people of London struggle to maintain a society in the face of overwhelming mortality. Based on eye-witness accounts from 1665 and drawing poetic parallels with modern epidemics, Ten Plagues relates one man's journey through a city in crisis. Told entirely through a series of songs, Ten Plagues explores humanity's struggle with sickness and death and celebrates our capacity for survival. This volume also contains The Coronation of Poppea, a new version of Monteverdi's opera depicting the triumphant adultery between Poppea and Roman Emperor Nero. Tackling this tale of epic lives, Ravenhill updates Tacitus' scathing portrayal of decadence and imperial degeneracy with language which is contemporary, spare and brutally powerful. Taking opera librettos as a foundation, this volume presents two texts for modern music theatre by the seminally controversial playwright Mark Ravenhill. Mark Ravenhill's introduction to the volume explains the inspiration and writing process behind the two pieces.

Ten Plagues' and 'The Coronation of Poppea'

Plays

Judy Upton

Contains: Shopping and fucking; Faust is dead; Handbag; Some explicit polaroids.

Plays, 1

Dennis Kelly

Lucy Kirkwood

Across the UK thousands of people are involved in protests and debates, sparked into action by the largest cuts to publicspending since WWII – cuts which are the turning point of a generation, undermining the welfare state, higher education and the arts in one fell swoop. Theatre Uncut is a national theatre event in response to these cuts, bringing together some of the UK’s leading dramatists. Drama groups, universities, youth clubs and theatre companies nationwide joined the event, staging their own versions of the shorts in a national theatrical uprising. Now published in this new collection, Theatre Uncut contains these short plays, addressing audiences who want to think about what the budget cuts really mean, and who they are really hitting. A debate is underway. Protest might begin, minds might be changed, views challenged, ideas formed. Theatre Uncut is a response to a situation that we cannot control, and over which we had no say. Click below to hear an interview with Libby Brodie and Hannah Price of Theatre Uncut:

A Response to the Countrywide Spending Cuts

Theatre Uncut

Scenes from Family Life is a charged and punchy play about relationships and the last two people left on earth. Lisa and Jack are teenagers, but they are about to become adults; Lisa is pregnant, and neither of them can wait for the baby to arrive and their lives to start. But then Lisa vanishes - into thin air. Jack panics until she comes back, but then she disappears again, and then it turns out that everyone is dematerialising, all over the planet people are disappearing. Quickly, the only people left in the world are Jack and his heavily pregnant friend Stacy. Jack adjusts to the silent and primitive world; but for Stacey it begins to turn into a nightmare. And when the vanished start to return, Jack has to learn how complex adult relationships are.

Scenes From Family Life

Mark Ravenhill's autobiographical radio play explores the way culture, high and low, impacted both his mother's and his family's lives. Starting an adult ballet class as the only male in the group sparks a memory of life through the eyes of Ravenhill, the playwright. As time intertwines through alternating perspectives we see his family at different stages of their life. From childhood dreams of being a dancer and performer through to the creativity that brings his parents together for the first time and into their old age, this is a deeply personal and resonate drama about the intersects of life and culture. Commissioned by Sound Stage, a new immersive audio theatre, designed by theatre-makers and leading technologists, giving audiences a unique and engrossing online theatre experience of new plays from the best in British theatre.

Angela

Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat is an epic cycle of plays exploring the personal and political effect of war on modern life. The plays that make up Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat began life at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe as Ravenhill for Breakfast (produced by Paines Plough), winning a Fringe First award, and the Jack Tinker Spirit of the Fringe award. They form a collage of very different scenes, with each taking its title from a classic work. The plays were presented in April 2008 in various venues across London, from Notting Hill to a Victorian warehouse in Shoreditch, via Sloane Square and the South Bank. Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat was originally developed in association with the National Theatre Studio and Paines Plough, and was first produced as Ravenhill for Breakfast at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in August 2007 by Paines Plough, with the support of David Johnson.

Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat

A collection of three plays for young actors written by Mark Ravenhill: Citizenship, Scenes from a Family Life and Totally Over You, and including an introduction by the author. Originally commissioned as part of the National Theatre Connections programme, these three plays were specifically written for teenagers and are ideal for young performers aged 13-25 years old. Written with greater warmth and humanity than you might expect from the author of such controversial works as Shopping and F***ing, Ravenhill's plays for teenagers are compassionate, intelligent and not at all patronising. With themes of particular interest to teenagers, the plays explore the search for identity during the transition to adulthood: self-perception, relationships, sexual identity and obsession with fame. Citizenship is a bittersweet comedy about growing up, following a boy's frank and messy search to discover his sexual identity: schoolboy Tom dreams of being kissed, but is unsure whether it is by a man or woman. Scenes from a Family Life is set in a world where everyone starts to dematerialise. Six months on and Jack and Stacy are the only boy and girl on the planet. For Jack it's a dream, for Stacy a nightmare. And when the vanished start to return, Jack has to learn how complex adult relationships are. Totally Over You is an exploration of celebrity-obsession. Four girls break up with their boyfriends when they decide they only want to see celebrities. The boys decide to trick the girls into thinking that they are on the brink of fame and fortune as a boy band. The girls decide to win the boys back. But what will happen when they discover the truth?

Citizenship; Scenes from Family Life; Totally Over You

Plays for Young People

Shopping and fucking

Following the National Theatre's success with plays based on novels by well-loved children's writers like Philip Pulman (His Dark Materials), Jamila Gavin (Coram Boy) and Michael Morpurgo (War Horse), the National now stages Mark Ravenhill's exhilarating adaptation of Terry Pratchett's witty and challenging adventure story in a major Christmas production for 2009. A parallel world, 1860. Two teenagers thrown together by a tsunami that has destroyed Mau's village and left Daphne shipwrecked on his South Pacific island, thousands of miles from home. One wears next to nothing, the other a long white dress; neither speaks the other's language; somehow they must learn to survive. As starving refugees gather, Daphne delivers a baby, milks a pig, brews beer and does battle with a mutineer. Mau fights cannibal Raiders, discovers the world is round and questions the reality of his tribe's fiercely patriarchal gods. Together they come of age, overseen by a foul-mouthed parrot, as they discard old doctrine to forge a new Nation.

Nation: The Play

"Ravenhill has more to say, and says it more refreshingly and wittily, than any other playwright of his generation" Time Out "There are few stage authors writing more interestingly than Mark Ravenhill ... He is - it is now yet more evident - a searing, intelligent, disturbing sociologist with a talent for satirical dialogue and a flair for sexual sensationalism." - Financial Times Shopping and Fucking: "is a darkly humorous play for today's twenty-somethings ... a real coup de theatre" - Nicholas de Jongh, Evening Standard Faust: "...an intelligent and witty reappropriation of the legend ... alive, pertinent and disturbing" - Michael Coveney, Observer Handbag: "...combines urban grit with sly wit, and reveals Mark Ravenhill as a writer of real daring" - Daily Telegraph Some Explicit Polaroids: "laudably ambitious, pulsates with energy ... very funny" - Financial Times

Shopping and F***ing; Faust is Dead; Handbag; Some Explicit Polaroids

Ravenhill Plays: 1

A famous artist invites her old friends out to her luxurious new home and, for one night only, the group is back together. However, celebrations come to an abrupt end when the host suffers an horrific accident. As the victim lies in a coma, an almost unthinkable plan starts to take shape: could her suffering be their next work of art? The group is ecstatic in its new found project until things slip out of their control and, to the surprise of all, the patient awakes... pool (no water) is a visceral and shocking new play about the fragility of friendship and the jealousy and resentment inspired by success. Citizenship is a bittersweet comedy about growing up, following a boy's frank and messy search to discover his sexual identity. It was developed as part of the National Theatre Shell Connections 2005 Programme

'pool (no water)' and 'Citizenship'

Citizenship is a bittersweet one-act comedy about growing up, following a boy's frank and messy search to discover his sexual identity. Tom dreams of being kissed, but he's not sure whether by a man or by a woman, and he feels he should choose pretty quickly. His friends' homophobic teasing and interrogations about what he did with his friend Amy the other night leave Tom no space to make up his mind, and he's got no one to ask for advice, except maybe people on the internet. Citizenship captures adolescent confusion with a witty and sensitive charm, crackling with humorous and authentic dialogue. Originally developed as part of the National Theatre Connections Programme, it is an ideal play for young performers.

Citizenship

'Ravenhill has more to say, and says it more refreshingly and wittily, than any other playwright of his generation' Time Out Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat: 'A dramatic cycle that is, in its way, epic, but is splintered into many small shards... touches deftly on the impact of war on everyone involved' Financial Times Over There:'Ravenhill explores postwar Germany's division and unification through the power battles between twin brothers. The result is fantastically clever and ingenious' Guardian A Life in Three Acts: 'By turns charming, funny, informative and, in its final segment, lump-in-the-throat moving as Bourne charts the loss of friends and lovers to Aids, and contemplates old age' Guardian Ten Plagues: 'A remarkable song-cycle... it's the portrait of grief beyond measure that's so affecting and which this moving hour of solitudinous lamentation, confusion and defiance brings beautifully to the fore.' Telegraph Ghost Story: 'both a satire and a moving story about illness' Guardian The Experiment: 'Mark Ravenhill keeps things creepy in his monologue, The Experiment, in which he plays the satiny-voiced, slippery narrator... The story, and the narrator's level of complicity, keeps shifting. Ravenhill asks us to consider which version, if any, might be acceptable, and how much we might be willing to avert our eyes from for the greater good.' Independent

Mark Ravenhill

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