Mark Ravenhill

Its 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.

With honesty, humour and occasional anger, performer Bette Bourne tells the playwright Mark Ravenhill about his brave and flamboyant life. Crafted from transcripts of a series of long, private conversations, actor Bette Bourne reminisces and replays scenes from his life from a postwar childhood,a stint as a classical actor in the late 60s, to living in a drag commune in Notting Hill and being an active member of the Gay Liberation Front. Bette then talks about his touring with the New York based Hot Peaches cabaret group and founding his own cabaret troop, Bloolips, which redefined the term gay theatre by creating their very own unique celebration of dramatic and colourful homosexuality. The piece, in three parts, marks a different series of events in Bette's life to reveal both a portrait of a pioneering, radical individual and a historical document of the struggles and achievements of gay liberation.

DUS - Den unge scenen ble startet i 2004 etter en modell fra Connections i England, der National Theatre i London spiller en ledende rolle på samme måte som Det Norske Teatret gjør i Norge. DUS har til nå utviklet femten nye scene.tekster for ungdom og tre prosjekt.runder er gjennomført. De fire første tekstene ble utgitt på Transit i 2005 og denne boka inneholder de resterende tekstene fra rundene to og tre. Den gang, da DUS - Den unge scenen startet, var initiativ.takerne sikre på det var en god idé og at det var et prosjekt som hadde store poten.sialer. Men at DUS i tredje runde skulle nå seksti produksjoner, som vil si en for.dobling fra oppstarten, må sies å overstige alle for.vent.ninger. Kjernen i DUS-prosjektet er tekstene, tekster som handler om ung.dom og som ung.dom kan uttrykke seg scenisk gjennom, tekster som fanger et språk som ung.dom kan forstå og som de kan identi.fisere seg med. Tekster som inspirerer og utfordrer, tekster som lever midt i samtiden! ??? Inneholder: Den siste songen av Rune Belsvik,?Nytt for reisende (Travel News) av Chenjerai Hove,?Illyria av Bryony Lavery,?Samfunnsånd (Citizenship) av Mark Ravenhill,?Verkeleg av Gyrid Axe Øvsteng, Buy Nothing Day av Kim Atle Hansen,?Vente på fugl av Sigmund Løvåsen,?Jeg vet hvorfor av Haddy Jatou N'jie / Fredrik Lyngås Pedersen,?Erasmus Tyrannus Rex av Kate Pendry,?Blowing bubbles av Erlend Sandem og?Blå himmel Grønn skog av Bjørnar Lisether Teigen

What is globalization? What role is there for the theatre in a globalizing world? This original and provocative book explores the contribution that theatre has made to our slowly evolving consciousness of our world as a whole. Drawing on sources from Aeschylus to The Lion King, Chekhov to Complicite, tragedy to advertising, the book argues for theatre's importance as a site of resistance to the ruthless spread of the global market.Foreword by Mark Ravenhill

A programme text edition published to coincide with the world premiere at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on 25 February 2009 "I found you. You're here. And I was over there. But now I'm over here. I'm here. You're my brother. I love you" When Franz's mother escaped to the West with one of her identical twin boys, she left the other behind. Now, 25 years later, Karl crosses the border in search of his other half. As history takes an unexpected turn, the brothers must struggle to reconnect. Mark Ravenhill's visceral new play examines the hungers released when two countries, separated by a common language, meet again.

Mark Ravenhill has established himself as one of the most important playwrights to emerge from the 1990s. Provocative, dark, witty and satirical, his plays consistently probe the debased culture of our times. This second volume of plays brings together five plays from 2001-07. It includes Mother Clap's Molly House, a black comedy and celebration of human sexuality that premiered at the National Theatre in 2001; Citizenship, a bitter-sweet comedy about growing up that was developed by the National Theatre's Shell Connections programme in 2005; The Cut, a disturbing political fable that opened at the Donmar Warehouse in 2006; Product, Ravenhill's one man satire on the media industry that since its premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2005, has been produced around the world, and Pool (no water), a shocking examination of the fragility of friendship and the jealousy and resentment inspired by success. The volume features an introduction by the author and a chronology of his work.

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.

"Citizenship" was performed at the National Theatre in 2006 as part of the NT Shell Connections programme. A lively, funny and outspoken drama, it focuses on teenager Tom, who dreams of kissing someone but can't tell whether that someone is female or male. Is he gay? And can anyone help him to find out? "Gay Gary", his stoner schoolfriend, turns out to be gay by nickname only; deClerk, the young Citizenship teacher, is gay but stressed out and professionally cautious and cannot help; Amy, Tom's self-harming, unhappy best friend, has sex with him as an experiment...and then Tom meets Martin, who helps him to answer some questions while raising many others.

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

Two bold new dramas from the author of Shopping & F***ing The CutPaul is an ordinary man with a shocking secret. At home, he is a loving husband and father. At work, he administers the cut. In a society sickened by his profession, Paul struggles with his conscience and longs to tell the truth. The Cut has its world premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, London, on 23 February 2006, starring Ian McKellan.Product'I love your work, I love it. I've seen you do those turns on a sixpence...You're fabulous. And this material is going to be fabulous once it's punched up.' Amy is a hot young starlet. Now all she needs is the script which will save her from B movie hell, a script which balances artistic integrity with blockbuster bucks. Mark thinks he's got the perfect pitch - a script which combines a torrid love story with the dark spectre of terrorism and big, big explosions. If he can only persuade Amy, he's got the perfect Product. Mark Ravenhill starred in this monologue piece when it premiered to critical acclaim at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in August 2005.' 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'Compelling viewing' Guardian (on The Cut at the Donmar Warehouse)

The ground-breaking debut from one of the most important playwrights of the last decade, now in a student edition "Shopping and Fucking is a darkly humorous play for today's twenty-somethings ...a real coup de theatre" Nicholas de Jongh, Evening Standard "Plunges you into the world of disposability, disconnection and dysfunction, where relationships to be trusted have to be reduced to transactions ...strong stuff" Paul Taylor, Independent "Ravenhill has more to say, and says it more refreshingly and wittily, than any other playwright of his generation" Time Out

The four boyfriends, with the help of the members of their school's drama class, set up a witty scenario designed to fool the girls into thinking that they should never have called off their relationships - because one day soon the lads will be the world-famous boyband Awesome. The current obsession with celebrity is satirized with the lightest of touches in this intelligent comedy for teenagers.7 women, 7 men

'Like bawdy Shakespeare meets wild Wycherley filtered through the formalised camp of John Osborne's A Patriot for Me...how wonderful to see the rabid raw talent of Ravenhhill given the full works' Michael Coveney, Daily Mail It's London 1726, and Mrs Tull's got problems. The whores are giving her a hard time, a man in a dress is looking for a job, her husband has a roving eye and the apprentice boy keeps disappearing for 'a wander'. Meanwhile in 2001 a group of wealthy gay men are preparing for a raunchy party.Mother Clap's Molly House, a black comedy with songs is a celebration of the diversity of human sexualtiy, an exploration of our need to form families and a fascinatig insight into a hidden chapter in London's history.'Ravenhill's writing is tough, eloquent, sardonic, with some of the barbed formality of the Resotration style, which gets brutally peeled off in the present-day scenes. This is not a play you "enjoy". This is not a gay play either...The message of this play is not "Come out", but "Come in".' John Peter, Sunday Times.'Mark Ravenhill clearly likes to have it both ways. In this wonderfuly exuberant new musical play, he celebrates Sodom like there's no Gomorrah...Delicate souls may be offended but there is no doubting the sincerity of Ravenhill's assault on the tranformation of sex into a dirty business.' Michael Billington, Guardian'A theatrical manifesto for sexual tolerance that teeters wildly between the politics of Bertolt Brecht and the in-your-face deviancy of a gay nightclub...Ravenhill combines graphic sex with a generosity of spirit' Charles Spencer, Daily TelegraphMother Clap's Molly House premiered at the Royal National Theatre, London in October 2001.

"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

With an introduction by Graham Whybrow, literary manager of the Royal Court Theatre, this anthology collects the defining plays of the 1980s and 1990s in one volume - Top Girls 'The best British play ever from a woman dramatist' (The Guardian) Hysteria 'One of the most brilliantly original and entertaining new plays I have seen in years' (The Sunday Times) Blasted 'Her dialogue is both sparse and stunning. They will call her mad, but then they said that about Strindberg' (Mail on Sunday) Shopping and F***ing 'A real coup de theatre' (Evening Standard) The Beauty Queen of Leenane 'The most wickedly funny, brilliantly abrasive young dramatist ...a born storyteller' (New York Times)The result is a collection of "must reads" that's excellent value for students and theatre fans alike.

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)

"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)

Sleeping Around is by four top British playwrights from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales: Mark Ravenhill, Hilary Fannin, Stephen Greenhorn and Abi Morgan Sleeping Around is about love and sex in Britain as we approach the millennium. In a dozen scenes of likely and unlikely connections, two actors (Sophie Stanton and John Lloyd Fillingham) play a variety of couples whose ordinary lives erupt in extraordinary moments.

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)

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