Citizenship

Rebellato, Dan. 'Introduction.' In Citizenship by Mark Ravenhill. Methuen Drama Modern Classics. London: Methuen Drama, 2015, pp. 3-17.

Methuen Drama are producing a new series of play editions, under the title Modern Classics (see below). Each one has a new introduction by a theatre maker or academic. I've done an introduction to Citizenship by Mark Ravenhill. I talk about the relationship between theatre and citizenship, the history of citizenship in British education, and the play's complicated role in relation to these debates. I was helped by having interviewed Mark twice about the play for two of the three rounds of visits it paid to the National Theatre (I did programme notes twice for it). I enjoyed looking at the variations in the published versions of the texts and watching the play evolve towards greater and greater complexity. It was a pleasing opportunity to revisit this possibly rather overlooked play and I must admit I came out of the process with a reinforced respect for what Mark is trying to do with that play. It's a much subtler and more complex play than it appears; which is exactly how its tightly planned subversion works.