British theatre of the 1990s witnessed an explosion of new talent and presented a new sensibility that sent shockwaves through audiences and critics. What produced this change, the context from which the work emerged, the main playwrights and plays, and the influence they had on later work are freshly evaluated in this important new study in Methuen Drama's Decades of Modern British Playwriting series. The 1990s volume provides a detailed study by four scholars of the work of four of the major playwrights who emerged and had a significant impact on British theatre: Sarah Kane (by Catherine Rees), Anthony Neilson (Patricia Reid), Mark Ravenhill (Graham Saunders) and Philip Ridley (Aleks Sierz). Essential for students of Theatre Studies, the series of six decadal volumes provides a critical survey and study of the theatre produced from the 1950s to 2009. Each volume features a critical analysis of the work of four key playwrights besides other theatre work, together with an extensive commentary on the period. Readers will understand the works in their contexts and be presented with fresh research material and a reassessment from the perspective of the twenty-first century. This is an authoritative and stimulating reassessment of British playwriting in the 1990s.

'...the history of this pub, the possibilities of what once could have happened in this room in which we're now gathered ... Well. The possibilities'. Written as a response to the 50th anniversary celebration of the King's Head Theatre, Mark Ravenhill premieres his first new play as Artistic Director. Drawing on the traditions of a classic ghost story, The Haunting of Susan A explores the power of the mind to make the unseen visible and for the cruelty of the past to haunt a room. Described as "a ghost story", the play is Inspired by Ravenhill's love of the work of M.R. James and is set in the King's Head Theatre itself. Published alongside an introduction from Timberlake Wertenbaker, this text also includes Ravenhill's '101 notes on Playwriting', which caused a sensation on Twitter and appears in print for the first time.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

"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

Drawing together the work of 12 leading playwrights, this National Theatre Connections anthology celebrates highlights from 21 years of the Connections festival with a retrospective selection of plays. Featuring work by some of the most prolific playwrights of the 20th and 21st centuries, and together in one volume, the anthology offers young performers between the ages of 13 and 19 an engaging selection of plays to perform, read or study. Each play has been specifically commissioned by the National Theatre's literary department over the years, with the young performer in mind. In 2016, these plays were then performed by approximately 500 schools and youth theatre companies across the UK and Ireland, in partnership with multiple professional partner regional theatres at which the works were showcased. The anthology contains all 12 of the play scripts; notes from the writer and director of each play, addressing the themes and ideas behind the play; and production notes and exercises for the drama groups. This year's anniversary anthology includes plays by Snoo Wilson, Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt; Simon Armitage; Jackie Kay; Patrick Marber; Mark Ravenhill; Bryony Lavery & Frantic Assembly; Davey Anderson; James Graham; Katori Hall; Carl Grose; Stacey Gregg; and Lucinda Coxon.

"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)

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

Arguably Brecht's greatest play, A Life of Galileo charts the seventeenth century scientist's extraordinary fight with the church over his assertion that the earth orbits the sun. The figure of Galileo, whose 'heretical' discoveries about the solar system brought him to the attention of the Inquisition, is one of Brecht's more human and complex creations. Temporarily silenced by the Inquisition's threat of torture, and forced to abjure his theories publicly, Galileo continues to work in private, eventually smuggling his work out of the country. Brecht's beautiful depiction of the explosive struggle between scientific discovery and religious fundamentalism is captured masterfully in this new translation by RSC writer-in-residence, Mark Ravenhill.

The ground-breaking debut from one of the most important playwrights of the last decade, now in an acting 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

It will be the biggest send off any teacher has ever had. No teacher is as loved. After 45 years as a dedicated teacher, Edward is looking forward to the imminent celebration to mark his retirement. But his home is under siege. A mob of angry students have gathered. A brick has been thrown through the window, he and his wife haven't left the house for six days, and now his estranged daughter has arrived with her own questions. Why would they attack the most popular teacher in the school? The Cane explores power, control, identity and gender as well as considering the major failure of the echo-chamber of liberalism.

It's summer. I'm in a supermarket. It's hot and I'm sweaty. Damp. And I'm watching this couple shopping. I'm watching you. And you're both smiling. You see me and you know sort of straight away that I'm going to have you. With a raw mixture of black humour and bleak philosophy, the play follows three disconnected young adults whose lives have been reduced to a series of transactions in an emotionally shrink-wrapped world. A place where shopping is sexy and fucking is a job. Ravenhill's play is a prophetic vision of our twenty-first century world. It received its world premiere in 1996 in a production by Out of Joint and the Royal Court Theatre, and has been published in this edition to coincide with the 2016 revival of the play at the Lyric Hammersmith, London.

A famous artist invites her old friends to her luxurious new home. For one night only, the group is back together. But 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? Pool (No Water) is a visceral and shocking new play about the fragility of friendship and the jealousy and resentment inspired by success.

British theatre of the 1990s witnessed an explosion of new talent and presented a new sensibility that sent shockwaves through audiences and critics. What produced this change, the context from which the work emerged, the main playwrights and plays, and the influence they had on later work are freshly evaluated in this important new study in Methuen Drama's Decades of Modern British Playwriting series. The 1990s volume provides a detailed study by four scholars of the work of four of the major playwrights who emerged and had a significant impact on British theatre: Sarah Kane (by Catherine Rees), Anthony Neilson (Patricia Reid), Mark Ravenhill (Graham Saunders) and Philip Ridley (Aleks Sierz). Essential for students of Theatre Studies, the series of six decadal volumes provides a critical survey and study of the theatre produced from the 1950s to 2009. Each volume features a critical analysis of the work of four key playwrights besides other theatre work, together with an extensive commentary on the period. Readers will understand the works in their contexts and be presented with fresh research material and a reassessment from the perspective of the twenty-first century. This is an authoritative and stimulating reassessment of British playwriting in the 1990s.

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. style="FONT-STYLE: italic">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. style="FONT-STYLE: italic">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. style="FONT-STYLE: italic">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?

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)

'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.

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)

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)

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.

Alone on a desert island -- everything and everyone he knows and loves has been washed away in a storm -- Mau is the last surviving member of his nation. He's completely alone -- or so he thinks until he finds the ghost girl. She has no toes, wears strange lacy trousers like the grandfather bird, and gives him a stick that can make fire.
Daphne, sole survivor of the wreck of the Sweet Judy, almost immediately regrets trying to shoot the native boy. Thank goodness the powder was wet and the gun only produced a spark. She's certain her father, distant cousin of the Royal family, will come and rescue her but it seems, for now, that all she has for company is the boy and the foul-mouthed ship's parrot, until other survivors arrive to take refuge on the island. Together, Mau and Daphne discover some remarkable things (including how to milk a pig, and why spitting in beer is a good thing), and start to forge a new nation.
Encompassing themes of death and nationhood, Terry Pratchett's new novel is, as can be expected, extremely funny, witty and wise. Mau's ancestors have something to teach us all. Mau just wishes they would shut up about it and let him get on with saving everyone's lives

"From the Hardcover edition."

After fifteen years inside, political activist Nick emerges to find that the old causes of the 80s have become the lost causes of the 90s. As he struggles to get to grips with this new world, he collides with the new generation. Bonded by a love of pills, parties and therapy-speak, Nadia, Tim and Victor take Nick on a search for the happy-ever-after. Sharp, satirical and pulsating with energy, Some Explicit Polaroids weaves an engaging urban fairytale for today. In an age where political change seems a distant memory, Ravenhill asks "how did we get from there to here?" and "where do we go now?"