Abstract:

The twentieth century witnessed the death of at least 100 million people due to wars, genocides, and conflicts. Catastrophic and violent events that emerged in the last decades of the 20th century led to new trends in Britain, such as in-yer-face theatre. One of the forerunners of this movement, Mark Ravenhill, reflected the realities on stage in order to create a new awareness about the case of violence. In this respect, this study will attempt to demonstrate that the Foucauldian approach to violence did immensely affect the English drama of the time by apparently showing itself in Ravenhill’s Shopping and Fucking. This play was first performed on 26th September, 1996 at the Royal Court Theatre. Together with the content, the title is enough to shock the public. The playwright is surely good at finding affective titles for his plays; however, this one affects the norms and values more than the others since the title of the play is printed with asterisks as Shopping and F***ing. Shortly, the aim of this article is to analyze the dynamism, changes, socio-political importance, and effects of violence in Ravenhill’s infamous play by taking power and family relations into consideration.

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