The Pinter Centre for Performance and Creative Writing

RAVENHILL 10 - 11/12 November 2006

  Programme

Symposium convenor: John Ginman

2006 is the tenth anniversary of the first production of Mark Ravenhill’s Shopping and Fucking which created a furore in the UK and in many countries world-wide. His plays continue to stimulate and to provoke, and 2006 is his busiest year yet as a playwright, with no less than five projects being staged in London alone. It seems an apt moment to convene a symposium focusing on this continuing and varied work, and take stock of his achievement.

The symposium explored three key questions:

How have Ravenhill’s plays been interpreted in the many cultural and theatrical contexts in which productions have taken place?

What impact has his work made during the last ten years, in the UK and internationally – on audiences and other theatre-makers?

Can we detect common themes and approaches in the diverse projects he is currently undertaking?

The programme for the symposium is still is being developed, but we can confirm the following:

On the 11th, the sessions analysed productions of his plays over ten years in the UK, Europe (including Eastern Europe), the US and South Africa, and draw on the experiences of directors, dramaturgs and performers who have worked on them. Participants included: Dave Barton (Artistic Director: Rude Guerrillas Theatre Company, Santa Ana, CA), Dan Rebellato (Royal Holloway College), and Max Stafford-Clark (Artistic Director, Out of Joint)

On the 12th we used the extraordinary range of Ravenhill’s work being staged in London in 2006 as the basis for an examination of ways in which he continues to renew himself creatively. We considered his projects for and with young people (through the Connections Festivals at the National Theatre and his work with LAMDA students), his interest in creative collaboration (with Frantic Assembly), and the new directions taken by his writing with The Cut, Product and the forthcoming Dick Whittington and his Cat at the Barbican. The day’s programme included a rehearsed reading of the verbatim play North Greenwich (for the Dome), still unpublished, and previously only staged at LAMDA, a presentation by John Deeney (Manchester Metropolitan University) who is currently writing a new critical study of Ravenhill’s work, and a forum with Mark Ravenhill himself.