About the work
Shopping and Fucking is the first full-length play by British playwright Mark Ravenhill. Produced by Out of Joint, it premiered in September 1996 at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in London, directed by Max Stafford-Clark.
Plot
Young Londoners Mark, Robbie and Lulu drift between casual jobs, parties and drugs. When Mark begins a relationship with the rent boy Gary while trying to build a steadier life, Robbie and Lulu are drawn into escalating, dangerous psychological games. Consumption and paid-for sex become the language of a generation searching for meaning in the wasteland after Thatcherism.
Cultural significance
A defining work of 1990s British in-yer-face theatre, the play provoked controversy on its premiere for its explicit violence and sexual content while also being praised for its black humour. Thomas Ostermeier directed the German-language premiere on 17 January 1998 at the Deutsches Theater Berlin's Baracke stage; the German version by Robin Detje is licensed through Rowohlt Theaterverlag.