Candide is an optimist. A dreamer. He believes that everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. But that belief is about to be tested as Candide's comfortable life is overtaken by an endless barrage of misfortune. As his world collapses around him, the story travels across the centuries to new locations and parallel universes. How will Candide's optimism fare when it collides with life in the 21st century?

The play is structured around two parallel narratives: one tells the story of Candide's attempts to reunite with his love Cunegonde; the other follows a woman who experiences a hugely traumatic event as she attempts to find a way back to happiness.

Lisa has breast cancer. Meryl is a healer who believes in the power of positive thinking. As time folds back on itself and then forwards, Lisa and Meryl trade roles as the healer and the healed, discovering that the world is full of ghosts.

Taking inspiration from Oedipus and Chilean children who were taken from their biological parents to support the Pinochet regime, Golden Child follows a young man's journey discovering that the people he knew to be his parents his whole life are not actually his parents.

Twenty-eight years before The Importance of Being Earnest, a young woman gives birth to a baby boy. Is it an accident when the Nanny places him in a handbag and her unpublished novel into the pram? In 1998 a new baby is stolen and an academic discovers an unpublished novel of more than usual revolting sentimentality. From Victorian wet nurses to 90s sperm banks, Mark Ravenhill's play examines the role of parenting in an age of diverse sexualities, biological engineering and Tinky Winky's handbag.

It's London 1726, and Mrs. Tull's got problems. The whores are giving her a hard time, a man in a dress is looking for a job, her husband has a roving eye and the apprentice boy keeps disappearing for 'a wander'. Meanwhile in 2001 a group of wealthy gay men are preparing for a raunchy party.

Mother Clap's Molly House, is a black comedy with songs is a celebration of the diversity of human sexualtiy, an exploration of our need to form families and a fascinatig insight into a hidden chapter in London's history.

When Franz's mother escaped to the West with one of her identical twin boys, she left the other behind. Now, twenty-five years later, Karl crosses the border in search of his other half. As history takes an unexpected turn, the brothers must struggle to reconnect.

Mark Ravenhill's visceral play examines the hungers released when two countries, separated by a common language, meet again.

A famous artist invites her old friends to her luxurious new home. For one night only, the group is back together. But celebrations come to an abrupt end when the host suffers an horrific accident. As the victim lies in a coma, an almost unthinkable plan starts to take shape: could her suffering be their next work of art?

Pool (No Water) is a visceral and shocking new play about the fragility of friendship and the jealousy and resentment inspired by success.

Olivia is a hot young starlet. Now all she needs is the script which will save her from B movie hell, a script which balances artistic integrity with blockbuster bucks. James thinks he's got the perfect pitch - a script which combines a torrid love story with the dark spectre of terrorism and big, big explosions. If he can only persuade Olivia, he's got the perfect Product.

Scenes from Family Life is a charged and punchy play about relationships and the last two people left on earth. Lisa and Jack are teenagers, but they are about to become adults; Lisa is pregnant, and neither of them can wait for the baby to arrive and their lives to start. But then Lisa vanishes - into thin air. Jack panics until she comes back, but then she disappears again, and then it turns out that everyone is dematerialising, all over the planet people are disappearing. Quickly, the only people left in the world are Jack and his heavily pregnant friend Stacy. Jack adjusts to the silent and primitive world; but for Stacey it begins to turn into a nightmare. And when the vanished start to return, Jack has to learn how complex adult relationships are.

Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat is an epic cycle of plays exploring the personal and political effect of war on modern life. The plays that make up Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat began life at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe as Ravenhill for Breakfast (produced by Paines Plough), winning a Fringe First award, and the Jack Tinker Spirit of the Fringe award. They form a collage of very different scenes, with each taking its title from a classic work. The plays were presented in April 2008 in various venues across London, from Notting Hill to a Victorian warehouse in Shoreditch, via Sloane Square and the South Bank. Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat was originally developed in association with the National Theatre Studio and Paines Plough, and was first produced as Ravenhill for Breakfast at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in August 2007 by Paines Plough, with the support of David Johnson.

The ground-breaking debut from one of the most important playwrights of the last decade, now in an acting edition.

"Shopping and Fucking is a darkly humorous play for today's twenty-somethings ...a real coup de theatre" Nicholas de Jongh, EVENING STANDARD

"Plunges you into the world of disposability, disconnection and dysfunction, where relationships to be trusted have to be reduced to transactions ...strong stuff" Paul Taylor, INDEPENDENT

"Ravenhill has more to say, and says it more refreshingly and wittily, than any other playwright of his generation" TIME OUT

After fifteen years inside, political activist Nick emerges to find that the old causes of the 80s have become the lost causes of the 90s. As he struggles to get to grips with this new world, he collides with the new generation. Bonded by a love of pills, parties and therapy-speak, Nadia, Tim and Victor take Nick on a search for the happy-ever-after.

Sharp, satirical and pulsating with energy, Some Explicit Polaroids weaves an engaging urban fairytale for today. In an age where political change seems a distant memory, Ravenhill asks "how did we get from there to here?" and "where do we go now?"

Paul is an ordinary man with a shocking secret. At home, he is a loving husband and father. At work, he administers the cut. In a society sickened by his profession, Paul struggles with his conscience and longs to tell the truth.

If you could cure thousands of a fatal disease by experimenting on a single child, would you do it? That's the question posed by the narrator of this story, their personal complicity in the experience a slippery possibility.

Candide is an optimist. A dreamer. He believes that everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. But that belief is about to be tested as Candide's comfortable life is overtaken by an endless barrage of misfortune. As his world collapses around him, the story travels across the centuries to new locations and parallel universes. How will Candide's optimism fare when it collides with life in the 21st century?

The play is structured around two parallel narratives: one tells the story of Candide's attempts to reunite with his love Cunegonde; the other follows a woman who experiences a hugely traumatic event as she attempts to find a way back to happiness.

Lisa has breast cancer. Meryl is a healer who believes in the power of positive thinking. As time folds back on itself and then forwards, Lisa and Meryl trade roles as the healer and the healed, discovering that the world is full of ghosts.

Taking inspiration from Oedipus and Chilean children who were taken from their biological parents to support the Pinochet regime, Golden Child follows a young man's journey discovering that the people he knew to be his parents his whole life are not actually his parents.

Twenty-eight years before The Importance of Being Earnest, a young woman gives birth to a baby boy. Is it an accident when the Nanny places him in a handbag and her unpublished novel into the pram? In 1998 a new baby is stolen and an academic discovers an unpublished novel of more than usual revolting sentimentality. From Victorian wet nurses to 90s sperm banks, Mark Ravenhill's play examines the role of parenting in an age of diverse sexualities, biological engineering and Tinky Winky's handbag.

It's London 1726, and Mrs. Tull's got problems. The whores are giving her a hard time, a man in a dress is looking for a job, her husband has a roving eye and the apprentice boy keeps disappearing for 'a wander'. Meanwhile in 2001 a group of wealthy gay men are preparing for a raunchy party.

Mother Clap's Molly House, is a black comedy with songs is a celebration of the diversity of human sexualtiy, an exploration of our need to form families and a fascinatig insight into a hidden chapter in London's history.

When Franz's mother escaped to the West with one of her identical twin boys, she left the other behind. Now, twenty-five years later, Karl crosses the border in search of his other half. As history takes an unexpected turn, the brothers must struggle to reconnect.

Mark Ravenhill's visceral play examines the hungers released when two countries, separated by a common language, meet again.

A famous artist invites her old friends to her luxurious new home. For one night only, the group is back together. But celebrations come to an abrupt end when the host suffers an horrific accident. As the victim lies in a coma, an almost unthinkable plan starts to take shape: could her suffering be their next work of art?

Pool (No Water) is a visceral and shocking new play about the fragility of friendship and the jealousy and resentment inspired by success.

Olivia is a hot young starlet. Now all she needs is the script which will save her from B movie hell, a script which balances artistic integrity with blockbuster bucks. James thinks he's got the perfect pitch - a script which combines a torrid love story with the dark spectre of terrorism and big, big explosions. If he can only persuade Olivia, he's got the perfect Product.

Scenes from Family Life is a charged and punchy play about relationships and the last two people left on earth. Lisa and Jack are teenagers, but they are about to become adults; Lisa is pregnant, and neither of them can wait for the baby to arrive and their lives to start. But then Lisa vanishes - into thin air. Jack panics until she comes back, but then she disappears again, and then it turns out that everyone is dematerialising, all over the planet people are disappearing. Quickly, the only people left in the world are Jack and his heavily pregnant friend Stacy. Jack adjusts to the silent and primitive world; but for Stacey it begins to turn into a nightmare. And when the vanished start to return, Jack has to learn how complex adult relationships are.

Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat is an epic cycle of plays exploring the personal and political effect of war on modern life. The plays that make up Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat began life at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe as Ravenhill for Breakfast (produced by Paines Plough), winning a Fringe First award, and the Jack Tinker Spirit of the Fringe award. They form a collage of very different scenes, with each taking its title from a classic work. The plays were presented in April 2008 in various venues across London, from Notting Hill to a Victorian warehouse in Shoreditch, via Sloane Square and the South Bank. Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat was originally developed in association with the National Theatre Studio and Paines Plough, and was first produced as Ravenhill for Breakfast at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in August 2007 by Paines Plough, with the support of David Johnson.

The ground-breaking debut from one of the most important playwrights of the last decade, now in an acting edition.

"Shopping and Fucking is a darkly humorous play for today's twenty-somethings ...a real coup de theatre" Nicholas de Jongh, EVENING STANDARD

"Plunges you into the world of disposability, disconnection and dysfunction, where relationships to be trusted have to be reduced to transactions ...strong stuff" Paul Taylor, INDEPENDENT

"Ravenhill has more to say, and says it more refreshingly and wittily, than any other playwright of his generation" TIME OUT

After fifteen years inside, political activist Nick emerges to find that the old causes of the 80s have become the lost causes of the 90s. As he struggles to get to grips with this new world, he collides with the new generation. Bonded by a love of pills, parties and therapy-speak, Nadia, Tim and Victor take Nick on a search for the happy-ever-after.

Sharp, satirical and pulsating with energy, Some Explicit Polaroids weaves an engaging urban fairytale for today. In an age where political change seems a distant memory, Ravenhill asks "how did we get from there to here?" and "where do we go now?"

Paul is an ordinary man with a shocking secret. At home, he is a loving husband and father. At work, he administers the cut. In a society sickened by his profession, Paul struggles with his conscience and longs to tell the truth.

If you could cure thousands of a fatal disease by experimenting on a single child, would you do it? That's the question posed by the narrator of this story, their personal complicity in the experience a slippery possibility.