Playwright Mark Ravenhill was born in 1966 in Sussex and educated at Bristol University, where he studied English and Drama. He was Literary Manager of Paines Plough, a company founded to develop new writing, from 1995 to 1997 and he was appointed Artistic associate at the National Theatre in 2002. His first work, a ten-minute dialogue titled Fist, was staged at London's Finborough pub theatre venue and caught the attention of Max Stafford-Clark, director of Out of Joint Theatre Company, who invited Ravenhill to contribute a full-length play. This became Shopping and F**king, which opened at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in September 1996 and was followed by a national and international tour. His other works include Faust is Dead (1997); Sleeping Around (a collaborative writing project, 1998); Handbag (Evening Standard Award - Most Promising Playwright, 1998); Some Explicit Polaroids (1999) ; Mother Clap’s Molly House (first performed 2001); Feed Me (a radio play broadcast by the BBC in 2000); two plays for teenagers: Totally Over You (2003) and Citizenship (2006); and The Cut, which opened at the Donmar Warehouse, London in early 2006 with Sir Ian McKellen in the lead role. At this year’s Galway Arts Festival, he will perform his play Product, a monologue which debuted at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2005. Ravenhill's work concerns itself with the anxieties and preoccupations of modern life, exploring themes such as the commodification of culture, the relentless impulsion to consume and the desire for instant celebrity.