3 2
J u t a a t * tebruary 21.2003
eatingout
ealingout
eatíngout
THEATER
eatingout
"All of ns shop and fuoh"
Mark Ravenhill’s graphic masterpiece
comes alive at Theater! Theatre!
by
G ary M orris
UITR CAFE
Serving fresh
panini sandwiches.
Delicious homemade soups
& bold salads.
Local hormone
free beef burgers
Many specialty &
breakfast items too!
Why not
L
Using local
& organic ingrediants.
own
casual mediterranean café
& wine bar
Local organic beer, wine,
& fresh juices.
Spacious booths for groups
and always quick service.
Yummy kids menu!
Try our specials
$2^ Tuesdays
Wine Down Wednesdays
Live Music & Great Food!
126 NE 28th St., Portland • 503-236-wine
open Mon-Fri 11 -late • Sat 4-late» Sun 4-10
Now Open 10-5 Weekdays
& 8-5 Sat. - Sun. 4
Expanded breakfast menu
Michael Teufel, Val Landrum and Gabe C arleton-B am es’ bum star in Shopping and Fucking
3024 NE Alberta + 503-335-8233
Hours: Lunch - M-F 11-5
Supper - Tue-Sat 5-2 Sun & Mon 5-10
Breakfast - Sat & Sun 8-3
FOR A GREAT STEAK, LOOK FOR
THE REVOLVING STEAK SIGN
EXCEPT IN BEAVERTON,
WHERE THE CITY
W OULDN’T LET US
|K
HAVE ONE
kind
,n8 all
°ffumili es
since 1946.
\
Our revolving steak sign has become a landmark in Portland.
»il A sign o f quality. Where you know you can get a great steak
dinner at a fair price. Unfortunately, we couldn) get that same
sign in Beaverton. But honestly, we 're not that hard to find
old c o u m
mm
home o f the 72 oz. steak
105th & SE Stark • 503-252-4171 - Beaver ton-Hillsdale Hwy at Griffith Dr. - 503-644-1492
ark Ravenhill doesn’t care much for
other roomie (and Robbie’s boyfriend), Mark,
the term "gay” or even “queer." He
heads off to rehab to get over a smack addic
prefers “post-gay” (as in post-feminist).
tion. Their tenuous scene slides further toward
The phrase makes sense for the British
collapse when a stoned Robbie decides to give
author of an aptxialyptic play that could rea
away $6,000 worth of Ecstasy, and he and Lulu
sonably he seen as "post-theater."
are forced to do a week long marathon of phone
RavenhilFs bibliography is short—just a
sex to raise the money to pay back the dealer.
handful of plays. Pre-eminent among them is
Meanwhile, Mark, a combination em otion
Shopping and Fucking, which made its debut in
al zombie and emotional wreck, seeks solace
front of an audience of a few dozen in 1996.
with a 14-year-old rent boy, Gary, whose busi
The venue was a throwaway com er of the pres
ness keeps him flush even as he hurtles toward
tigious Royal Court in London.
self-destruction.
Word that the play featured everything
O n paper this sounds like a grinding grim
from graphic gay sex and nudity to rape, all
iest, but the often heavy action is leavened with
wrapped in a black-humor package, spread
absurd humor that connects audiences with the
quickly. Shopping moved to a more lordly
characters, even in their most extreme (and
venue, the Gielgud Theatre in the West End,
occasionally gag-inducing) moments.
where it enthralled and repelled audiences in
Ravenhill is especially adept with over-the-top
about equal measure for six months.
bits of business. There’s a hilarious running gag of
Ravenhill became a cause cclebre, and his
Lulu making a huge issue of refusing to share her
most provocative play
pathetic Top Ramen with
has been seen around the
her r<x>mmates, but, typi
world, funded by a reluc
cal of these scattered
tant British Gxjncil
lives, she later becomes
Tour. Now Portland
violent trying to force
audiences get to see what
said soup on Robbie.
all the hiss was about,
This gag also res
courtesy of an excellent-
onates one of the play’s
all-round version by tri
themes—desperate
angle productions!
clinging to consumerism
by desperate people.
he world of Shopping
Lulu finds comfort in
is populated by a
her soup and defends it
few desperate
in a phrase that might
denizens, a quartet of
have
come from a com
—Michael Teufel
London slackers in vari
mercial: "You have all
ous degrees of dysfunction who steal, deal,
the taste in the world here!”
enter and exit rehab, eat microwaved junk
Mark gets some of the play’s most black-
food, engage in rape and murder, and seem to
comic rqoments. “1 have no definition of myself,”
love and hate each other in equal proportion.
he says, and proves it when he comes back from
Lulu, the play’s lone female, is an aspiring
rehab and talks in mindless therapy clichés alxxjt
actress in red vinyl Dr. Martens and miniskirt
the necessity to separate emotional involvement
whose auditions for an alleged TV producer to
from sex. “Just lick and go” is his self-prescription
sell collectible plates turn into an opportunity
to the hoy-whore he wants to rim.
to sell drugs.
A t the end of a powerful sequence in which
O ne of her roommates is Robbie, a speedy
Gary reveals he’s been raped repeatedly by his
bisexual boy who joins her in dealing after their
m other’s boyfriend, who doesn’t use a condom,
M
T
“I get quite a lot of
laughs at moments
that are excruciating
for me, personally.
I wonder if i t ’s the
script or is it me
squirming—or a
marriage of the two?”