Fuck, fuck, fuck

Shopping & Fucking reviewed

If you think happiness is a platinum Master Card, don’t see Mark Ravenhill’s controversial play, Shopping And Fucking. Then again, maybe you should.

Director Jim Millan, of Crow’s Theatre, has assembled an amazing cast to bring this thought-provoking, horror story to life.

It’s an intellectually ambitious play, cutting contemporary society down to its rational, bone-chilling core, postulating that the only idea, the only myth, of any value today, is money.

And while Ravenhill’s script is less than totally satisfying, this hip and sexy production delivers some very smart – and very gay – ruminations on the directionless yearnings of consumers (and sex-pigs and drug addicts, alike).

Thankfully, Shopping And Fucking doesn’t fall into the Quentin Tarentino school of violent cynicism. Though totally amoral in subject, Shopping And Fucking is a plea to reintroduce compassion into our political economy.

Shopping And Fucking continues until Sat, Feb 20 at the du Maurier Theatre Centre (231 Queens Quay W). Tix are $15 to $30; call (416) 973-4000.

The contributor photo for Gordon Bowness

Gordon Bowness (he/him) is the executive editor of Xtra. With a 30-year career covering the LGBTQ2S+ community, Gordon is also the founding editor of Go Big magazine and In Toronto (now In Magazine). He is an English speaker and lives in Toronto.

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