Dear Students

This is a sample of the kind of essays submitted last year. Generally they were very good, especially the technical analysis though most students neglected to analyse the connection between the stories and the play as a whole.

This essay got a good mark. Here are my comments:

Very interesting choice of play. It does have lot of very vivid stories which seem to play an important part in characterisation and the dynamics of the play as a whole. The essay is well presented and organised. The technical analyses are very good indeed.

Story 1 – Good technical points. This is a retelling of a familiar story, quite common in ordinary conversation. You are right about the childish nature of the exchange and the story. The story is also delivered as if to a child – the repeated “and”, the excessive cohesion. This childish style is indicative of characterisation – great familiarity (they both contradict Mark) but at the same time a kind of passivity and submission. Very good point about the lack of response, also indicative of character. They really want something but then when they get it they immediately move on to something else.

Story 2 – Yes, this is what you would call institutional storytelling. The power relations are also important. This is an asymetrical encounter as B is in a position of power. The story also seems to have a kind of didactic function and design, which you should have analysed a bit more, e.g. in an interview context there are specific patterns of interaction (e.g. question-answer-feedback) which need identifying.

Story 3 – Excellent analysis. You’ve identified all the important points, especially the level of collaboration. What about the preface? Does the story just start without any preface?

Story 4 – Where is the preface to R’s first story? Is there no point to it? If there is no point then we have no story. “confused reportage” is a nice expression, though. “Living in personal” dimension is also an interesting comment and you could maybe have said more about this. I’ts not just what they say (i.e. story content) that creates this effect but the way they tell their stories – high speaker involvement and inconsistent collaboration with the listener. It’s not just their instincts that are uncontrolled but their storytelling style.

Story 5 – Interesting story and analysis: the speech of drug users is an interesting area. It tends to be cohesive and not coherent and certainly R’s story is very cohesive. Note the change from past to present tense as the narrative warms up.

Story 6 – Is this just a monologue? No preface? What was the “insolence” you mention? It might be important. Your analysis is brilliant.

Story 7 – Excellent example of a strongly collborative story. You analyse this very well, particularly in terms of power relations. Your comments about “making up the story” and “the event never occured” need clarifying. Where do you get this impression from? It suggests that the story develops from a reminiscence to a fantasy, which may even be collaborative. How does this development happen?

Conversational storytelling in

Shopping and F***ing

By Mark Ravenhill

II-Ls

INDICE

Introduction

Story 1 - The Shopping Story (Mark)

Story 2 - The Lion King (Brian/ Lulu)

Story 3 - The Fork (Robbie/Lulu)

Story 4 - The bar of chocolate (Lulu/ Robbie)

Story 5 - Three Hundred E (Lulu-Robbie)

Story 6 - Paradise (Brian)

Story 7 - The Toilet Story (Lulu – Robbie – Mark - Gary)

Conclusion

Appendix

Bibliography

Introduction

This essay is a conversational analysis of the modern drama Shopping & F***ing, by Mark Ravenhill, based on the Methuen Modern Play edition, first published in 1996.

The story, which is settled in London in the 90’s, focuses on the misadventures of three young drug abusers.

Despite the fact that the piece is sparkled with stories, the seven I have chosen (which follow the chronological order in which they appear in the play) seemed to me to have a particular relevance in the story, both in terms of storytelling analysis features and significance of each story within the play.

The analysis of each story is composed of two parts: in the first one I used the colour system to highlight each different feature; the second one is a commentary of the story as a whole.

At the end of the analysis I included the transcription of each story.

Please, note that a slash in the dialogue (/) indicates that the next actor should start their line, creating overlapping speech.

Story 1 - The Shopping Story (Mark)

Tellability markers - cohesive devices

  1. Robbie: We have good times don’t we?
  2. Mark: Of course we have. I’m not saying that.
  3. Robbie: Good times. The three of us. Parties. Falling into taxis, out of taxis. Bed.
  4. Mark: That was years ago. That was the past.
  5. Lulu: And you said: I love you both and I want to look after you for ever.
  6. Mark: Look I…
  7. Lulu: Tell us the shopping story.
  8. Mark: Please I want to…
  9. Robbie: Yeah, come on. You still remember the shopping story.
  10. Pause
  11. Mark: Well alright.
  12. I’m watching you shopping.
  13. Lulu: No. Start at the beginning.
  14. Mark: That’s where it starts.
  15. Robbie: No it doesn’t. It starts with: “summer”.
  16. Mark: Yes. Ok.
  17. It’s summer. I’m in a supermarket. It’s hot and I’m sweaty.Damp.And I’m watching this
  18. couple shopping. I’m watching you. And you’re both smiling. You see me and you know
  19. sort of straight away that I’m going to have you. You knowyou don’t have a choice. No
  20. control. Now this guy comes up to me. He’s a fat man. Fat and hair and lycra and he says:
  21. See the pair by the yoghurt? Well, says fat guy, they’re both mine. I own them. I own them
  22. but I don’t want them - because you know something? – they’re trash. Trash and I hate
  23. them. Wanna buy them?
  24. How much? Piece of trash like them. Let’s say…twenty. Yeah, yours for twenty.
  25. So I d the deal. I hand it over. And I fetch you. I don’t have to say anything because you
  26. know. You’ve seen the transaction. And I take you both away and I take you to my house.
  27. And you see the house and when you see the houseyou know it. You understand? You
  28. know this place. And I’ve been keeping a room for you and I take you into this room. And
  29. there’s food. And it’s warm. And we live out our days fat and content and happy.
  30. Pause
  31. Listen. I didn’t want to say this. But I have to.
  32. I’m going.
  33. Lulu: Scag. Loves the scag.

Immediate repetition

Immediate repetition with variation

Non immediate repetition

Immediate paraphrase

Standard collocation

Tellability markers - sense-making devices

  1. Robbie: We have good times don’t we?
  2. Mark: Of course we have. I’m not saying that.
  3. Robbie: Good times. The three of us. Parties. Falling into taxis, out of taxis. Bed.
  4. Mark: That was years ago. That was the past.
  5. Lulu: And you said: I love you both and I want to look after you for ever.
  6. Mark: Look I…
  7. Lulu: Tell us the shopping story.
  8. Mark: Please I want to…
  9. Robbie: Yeah, come on. You still remember the shopping story.
  10. Pause
  11. Mark: Well alright.
  12. I’m watching you shopping.
  13. Lulu: No. Start at the beginning.
  14. Mark: That’s where it starts.
  15. Robbie: No it doesn’t. It starts with: “summer”.
  16. Mark: Yes. Ok.
  17. It’s summer. I’m in a supermarket. It’s hot and I’m sweaty. Damp. And I’m watching this
  18. couple shopping. I’m watching you. And you’re both smiling. You see me and you know
  19. sort of straight away that I’m going to have you. You know you don’t have a choice. No
  20. control. Now this guy comes up to me. He’s a fat man. Fat and hair and lycra and he says:
  21. See the pair by the yoghurt? Well, says fat guy, they’re both mine. I own them. I own them
  22. but I don’t want them - because you know something? – they’re trash. Trash and I hate
  23. them. Wanna buy them?
  24. How much? Piece of trash like them. Let’s say…twenty. Yeah, yours for twenty.
  25. So I d the deal. I hand it over. And I fetch you. I don’t have to say anything because you
  26. know. You’ve seen the transaction. And I take you both away and I take you to my house.
  27. And you see the house and when you see the house you know it. You understand? You
  28. know this place. And I’ve been keeping a room for you and I take you into this room. And
  29. there’s food. And it’s warm. And we live out our days fat and content and happy.
  30. Pause
  31. Listen. I didn’t want to say this. But I have to.
  32. I’m going.
  33. Lulu: Scag. Loves the scag.

Markers of negative emotion

Hedges

Markers of interactional remembering

Attitude markers

  1. Robbie: We have good times don’t we?
  2. Mark: Of course we have. I’m not saying that.
  3. Robbie: Good times. The three of us. Parties. Falling into taxis, out of taxis. Bed.
  4. Mark: That was years ago. That was the past.
  5. Lulu: And you said: I love you both and I want to look after you for ever.
  6. Mark: Look I…
  7. Lulu: Tell us the shopping story.
  8. Mark: Please I want to…
  9. Robbie: Yeah, come on. You still remember the shopping story
  10. Pause
  11. Mark: Well alright.
  12. I’m watching you shopping.
  13. Lulu: No. Start at the beginning.
  14. Mark: That’s where it starts.
  15. Robbie: No it doesn’t. It starts with: “summer”.
  16. Mark: Yes. Ok.
  17. It’s summer. I’m in a supermarket. It’s hot and I’m sweaty. ^Damp. And I’m watching this
  18. couple shopping. I’m watching you. And you’re bothsmiling. You see me and you know
  19. sort of straight away that I’m going to have you. You know you don’t have a choice. No
  20. control. Now this guy comes up to me. He’s a fat man. Fat and hair and lycra and he says:
  21. See the pair by the yoghurt? Well, says fat guy, they’re both mine. I own them. I own them
  22. but I don’t want them - because you know something? – they’re trash. ^Trash and Ihate
  23. them. Wanna buy them? How much? Piece of trash like them. Let’s say…twenty. Yeah,
  24. yours for twenty.
  25. So I d the deal. I hand it over. And I fetch you. I don’t have to say anything because you
  26. know. You’ve seen the transaction. And I take you both away and I take you to my house.
  27. And you see the house and when you see the house you know it. You understand? You
  28. know this place. And I’ve been keeping a room for you and I take you into this room. And
  29. there’s food. And it’s warm. And we live out our days fat and contentand happy.
  30. Pause
  31. Listen. I didn’t want to say this. But I have to.
  32. I’m going.
  33. Lulu: Scag. Loves the scag.

Particularised imagery

___Direct Speech

^Ellipsis

Story One – The shopping story

There are three speakers involved in this sequence: Mark, Robbie and Lulu. The story starts when Lulu, supported by Robbie, explicitly asks Mark to tell them the Shopping Story (lines 7-9). Mark, which at first refuses to tell the story (line 8), is finally convinced to do it by the insistent requests of both Lulu and Robbie. It seems as if the storytelling of their first meeting is a sort of ritual, as underlined by the adverb still (line 9) or by the fact that when Mark starts to recall the story, he is immediately corrected by Lulu who wants to hear a more detailed and familiar one, encouraged by Robbie, who suggests Mark how to start.

Mark tells then a very particularised story, providing the setting of the scene (line 17), and marking his speech with a high quantity of repetitions, which enables us to create an image of the scene.

Afterwards, Mark, using the direct speech, introduces a new character in the story, fat guy. His quoted speech is characterised by a large use of repetitions (from line 21 to 24) and also by negative feelings towards Lulu and Robbie, whom he hates and defines as trash (lines 22 – 23).

At the end, Mark cuts short the story, underlining the fact that he has been forced to tell it (line 31). Anyway, his attitude contrasts with the high involvement which he demonstrated in telling it, represented by the use of the present tense, which marks his attachment to the situation, or by the description of their first meeting in such a detailed manner, recalling, for example, exactly what they were buying in that moment (line 21).

Nevertheless, it seems as if, after having insisted on hearing the story, neither Robbie nor Lulu show interest for it, as underlined by Lulu’s final line (line 33), which has no connection with what Mark has been saying.

It seems to me that this story offers an unusual kind of involvement level, as the listener, after having requested the story, does not participate in constructing it and, what is more, does not give an appropriate reaction to it. On the contrary, the speaker, who at first refused to recall the story, unconsciously reveals a high involvement.

This dialogue, which appears at the very beginning of the play, aims at introducing the main characters, Mark, Robbie and Lulu, who are tied up by a threesome sexual relationship, a mutual dependence and a severe drug addiction.

Lulu and Robbie are considered as items, as underlines fat guy in line 21. It is also highlighted by Mark who uses verbs such as fetch (line 25) or take (repeated twice in line 26), which emphasize their passivity. The way in which they plague Mark with their questions and the fact that Robbie and Lulu never speak to each other, even pursuing the same goal, namely to convince Mark to tell them the Shopping Story, is a childish conduct. What is more, Mark treats them as if they were children: in fact, it seems as if Mark is telling a harsh tale, which is stresses by his way of ending the story (And we live out our days fat and content and happy, line 29), a sort of parody of the traditional happy endings.

Story 2 - The Lion King (Brian/ Lulu)

Tellability markers – cohesive devices

Interview room.

Brian and Lulu sit facing each other. Brian is showing Lulu an illustrated plastic plate.

  1. Brian: And there’s this moment. This really terrific moment. Quite possibly the best
  2. moment. Because really, you see, his father is dead. Yes? The Lion King was crushed – you
  3. feel the sorrow welling up in you – crushed by a wild herd of these big cows. One moment,
  4. lord of all he surveys. And then…a breeze, a wind, the stamping of a hundred feet and he’s
  5. gone. Only it wasn’t an accident. Somebody had a plane. You see?
  6. Lulu: Yes. I see.
  7. Brian: Any question. Any uncertainties. You just ask.
  8. Lulu: Of course.
  9. Brian: Because I want you to follow.
  10. Lulu: Absolutely.
  11. Brian: So then we’re…there’s…
  12. Lulu: Crushed by a herd of wild cows.
  13. Brian: Crushed by a herd of wild cows. Yes.
  14. Lulu: Only it wasn’t an accident.
  15. Brian: Good. Excellent. Exactly. It wasn’t an accident. It may have looked like an accident
  16. but. No. It was arranged by the uncle. Because –
  17. Lulu: Because he wanted to be King all along.
  18. Brian: Thought you said you hadn’t seen it.
  19. Lulu: I haven’t.
  20. Instinct. I have good instincts. That’s one of my qualities. I’m an instinctive person.
  21. Brian: Is that right?
  22. Brian writes down “instinctive” on a pad.
  23. Brian: Good. Instinctive. Could be useful.
  24. Lulu: Although of course I can also use my rational side. Where appropriate.
  25. Brian: So you’d say you appreciate order?
  26. Lulu: Order. Oh yes. Absolutely. Everything in its place.
  27. Brian writes down “appreciates order”.
  28. Brian: Good. So now the father is dead. Murdered. It was the uncle. And the son has grown
  29. up. And you know – he looks like the dad. Just like him. And this sort of monkey thing
  30. comes to him. And this monkey says: “It’s time to speak to your dead dad”. So he goes to
  31. the stream and he looks in and he sees-
  32. Lulu: / His own reflection.
  33. Brian: His own reflection. You’ve never seen this?
  34. Lulu: Never.
  35. Brian: But then…The water ripples, it hazes. Until he sees a ghost. A ghost or a memory
  36. looking up at him. His…
  37. Pause
  38. Excuse me. It takes you right here. Your throat tightens.
  39. Until…he sees…his…dad.
  40. My little one. Gets to that bit and I look round and he’s got these big tears in his eyes. He
  41. feels like I do. Because now the dad speaks. And he says: “The time has come. It is time for
  42. you to take your place in the Cycle of Being (words to that effect). You are my son and the
  43. one true King”. And he knows what it is he’s got to do. He knows who is he has to kill. And
  44. that’s the moment. That’s our favourite bit.
  45. Lulu: I can see that. Yes.
  46. Brian: Would you say in any way it resembles your father?

Immediate repetition

Immediate paraphrase