Mark Ravenhill

Mark Ravenhill was born in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, in 1966. He studied Drama and English at Bristol University. His first play, Shopping and Fucking, was produced by Out of Joint and the Royal Court Theatre in 1996. Subsequent plays include Faust Is Dead and Handbag (both Actors Touring Company), Some Explicit Polaroids (Out of Joint at the Ambassadors Theatre), Mother Clap’s Molly House and Citizenship (both National Theatre), Pool No Water (Frantic Assembly at the Lyric Theatre), The Cut (Donmar Theatre), Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat (Paines Plough) and Over There and The Cane (Royal Court). 

From 2012 to 2014, Mark was playwright in residence for the Royal Shakespeare Company, producing a new version of Brecht’s Galileo and Candide, a new play inspired by Voltaire’s (both Swan Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon). 

Mark’s work in music theatre includes a new English version of Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea, with additional material by Michael Nyman (King’s Head); Ten Plagues, a song cycle for Marc Almond with composer Connor Mitchell (Traverse Theatre); and Elysium, with composer Rolf Wallin for the Norwegian National Opera. Mark wrote the book for a new musical, The Boy in The Dress, adapted from the novel by David Walliams with songs by Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers, which opened at the RSC in Stratford-Upon-Avon in November 2019. His recent play Ben & Imo, which explores the creative relationship between composers Benjamin Britten and Imogen Holst, opened at the Swan Theatre for the RSC in March 2024 and performed at the Orange Tree Theatre in Spring 2025.