Shopping and Fucking

A 1996 play by English playwright Mark Ravenhill. Sometimes billed as Shopping and F***king. First performed Up Stairs at the Royal Court Theatre on 26 September 1996.

Subject

The sexual violence of Shopping and Fucking explores what is possible if consumerism supersedes all other moral codes. To this effect everything, including sex, violence and drugs, is reduced to a mere transaction in an age where shopping centres are the new cathedrals of Western consumerism. Aspects of consumerism and sexuality rampant in popular culture recur throughout the play: drugs, shoplifting, phone sex, prostitution, anal sex, and oral sex in the London department store Harvey Nichols. [1]

Performance history in South Africa

1998: Staged in the Barney Simon Theatre at the Market Theatre in May/June 1998, directed by Yael Farber, with Anthony Bishop (Brian), Brian Webber (Mark), Peter Guy (Gary), Nick Boraine (Robbie), Sylvaine Strike (Lulu). Decor and costumes by Monique Garden and Joshua Lindberg. Lighting by Declan Randall.

1999: Staged in September 1999 in the Gauloises Warehouse at On Broadway in Cape Town, directed by Fred Abrahamse, with Alex Duncan (Gary), Ralph Lawson (Brian), Rob van Vuuren (Robbie), Claire Watling (Lulu) and Kurt Wustmann (Mark).

2000: Staged at the Rostrum Theatre, Pretoria (?) in July 2000 under the direction of Jaco van Wyk, stage manager Zelda Langeveldt. the cast: Natasha Lamoela (Lulu), Jacques Bessenger (Robbie), Danie Naudé (Mark), John Goddard (Brian), Pieter Jacobs (Gary).

Sources

Review by Danie Botha (1999 production), Rapport 26 September 1999.

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