Myth and Narrative in Mark Ravenhill’s Shopping and Fucking

Various critical responses to Mark Ravenhill’s Shopping and Fucking claim that the play reflects Jean-Francois Lyotard’s postmodern idea that contemporary culture has lost the “grand narratives” that bound previous generations together. I maintain that, instead of being absent from the play, grand narratives actually permeate Shopping and Fucking, providing the scaffolding that supports its plot and advances its surprisingly communal ethos. Focusing on the play’s explicit evocation of the myth of Phaeton, I explore the issues and concerns raised by this Greco-Roman grand narrative play out in the lives of the main characters, bringing coherence to their seemingly fractured world and offering hope of cultural equilibrium. My analysis shows how grand narratives provide an interpretative lens through which the ethical core of this putatively bleak and brutal play is revealed.