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Pool (No Water) & Citizenship
A famous artist invites her old friends out to her luxurious new home and, for one night only, the group is back together. However, celebrations come to an abrupt end when the host suffers an horrific accident.
As the victim lies in a coma, an almost unthinkable plan starts to take shape: could her suffering be their next work of art? The group is ecstatic in its new found project until things slip out of their control and, to the surprise of all, the patient awakes?
pool (no water) is a visceral and shocking new play about the fragility of friendship and the jealousy and resentment inspired by success.
Citizenship is a bittersweet comedy about growing up, following a boy's frank and messy search to discover his sexual identity. It was developed as part of the National Theatre Shell Connections 2005 Programme
112 pages, Paperback
First published September 22, 2006
About the author
Mark Ravenhill
72 books42 followersMark Ravenhill (born 7 June 1966) is an English playwright, actor and journalist.
His plays include Shopping and Fucking (first performed in 1996), Some Explicit Polaroids (1999) and Mother Clap's Molly House (2001). He made his acting debut in his monologue Product, at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He often writes for the arts section of The Guardian. He is Associate Director of London's Little Opera House at The King's Head Theatre.
His plays include Shopping and Fucking (first performed in 1996), Some Explicit Polaroids (1999) and Mother Clap's Molly House (2001). He made his acting debut in his monologue Product, at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He often writes for the arts section of The Guardian. He is Associate Director of London's Little Opera House at The King's Head Theatre.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 12, 2021
Plays are so weird to read wtf. I’m honestly so surprised that people can get away with writing stuff like this and become renowned writers😐 what the actual fuck
March 21, 2010
Pool (No Water) is a dazzling piece of theatre. In a year of excellent theatre in Melbourne it came up maybe top for me. And yet Red Stitch theatre saw it as their 'dangerous' piece, the one that might fail. In that case, thank heavens they were brave enough to put it on.
This is one of my 'crawl over broken glass to see it' theatre experiences.
This is one of my 'crawl over broken glass to see it' theatre experiences.
March 4, 2022
pool (no water) by Mark Ravenhill
Review: 2.5 stars
I found this play to be a challenging read. It isn't set out like your average play, there are no stage directions and no character names. At first I thought it was one long monologue by one character, but after looking up footage from the play I realised that there were different characters speaking, they just were not marked out. I think if I had watched this play I would have liked it a lot more as I would be able to understand why things were said once they were assigned to a specific character. I would also be interested to see how Frantic Assembly integrated movement to the words on the page. Trauma can bond but also break.
In terms of the play's content I did enjoy it. The exploration of being an artist and what it means to the group. How even after the accident she wants to document her healing process. I found the dynamic between the injured girl and the rest of the group interesting. How they praise her like an idol, something to be worshipped. But in the end it turns out to be jealousy and hatred that was keeping them so close to her, not a genuine desire to care. Then when the girl realises they deleted the photos, she turns around and reveals she was aware of their jealousy and belittles them. Saying that she will always be more than them, she is almost a god-like figure, and they can do nothing but agree.
Citizenship by Mark Ravenhill
Review: 4 stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this play. An exploration of sexuality and just how confusing it can be to figure it out. As someone who has struggled with this myself I really resonated with Tom. Not being able to place a gender onto the images in your dreams is truly frustrating. I also appreciate how at the end of the play we still haven't confirmed what Tom’s sexuality is. This made the play more realistic, as most of the time we label ourselves but still don't feel truly comfortable with the “decision” we feel forced to make.
I did feel that sometimes the dialogue between characters did not flow as well as I would have liked. This may be down to the teenage awkwardness of the characters but sometimes it felt a little too stilted for my liking. Overall, it is probably one of my favourite plays I have read recently and I would definitely recommend reading.
Review: 2.5 stars
I found this play to be a challenging read. It isn't set out like your average play, there are no stage directions and no character names. At first I thought it was one long monologue by one character, but after looking up footage from the play I realised that there were different characters speaking, they just were not marked out. I think if I had watched this play I would have liked it a lot more as I would be able to understand why things were said once they were assigned to a specific character. I would also be interested to see how Frantic Assembly integrated movement to the words on the page. Trauma can bond but also break.
In terms of the play's content I did enjoy it. The exploration of being an artist and what it means to the group. How even after the accident she wants to document her healing process. I found the dynamic between the injured girl and the rest of the group interesting. How they praise her like an idol, something to be worshipped. But in the end it turns out to be jealousy and hatred that was keeping them so close to her, not a genuine desire to care. Then when the girl realises they deleted the photos, she turns around and reveals she was aware of their jealousy and belittles them. Saying that she will always be more than them, she is almost a god-like figure, and they can do nothing but agree.
Citizenship by Mark Ravenhill
Review: 4 stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this play. An exploration of sexuality and just how confusing it can be to figure it out. As someone who has struggled with this myself I really resonated with Tom. Not being able to place a gender onto the images in your dreams is truly frustrating. I also appreciate how at the end of the play we still haven't confirmed what Tom’s sexuality is. This made the play more realistic, as most of the time we label ourselves but still don't feel truly comfortable with the “decision” we feel forced to make.
I did feel that sometimes the dialogue between characters did not flow as well as I would have liked. This may be down to the teenage awkwardness of the characters but sometimes it felt a little too stilted for my liking. Overall, it is probably one of my favourite plays I have read recently and I would definitely recommend reading.
June 22, 2026
I’m always looking for plays to introduce to students. Poetic plays that can serve as a starting point for a director/dramaturg to arrange. This one is particularly useful as a teaching tool because its characters are close to the age of my students. It’s not an earth shattering story, but it’s an extremely tightly constructed plot given that the artists decide how to divide the roles.
September 2, 2017
What a wild read about art and life. Very dark. Mark Ravenhill is quickly becoming one of my favorite playwrights!
June 12, 2020
This review relates to pool no water.
really fun frenetic monologue.
enough twists to keep you entertained.
really fun frenetic monologue.
enough twists to keep you entertained.
March 1, 2023
pool (no water) is literally one of my favourite plays EVER!!
January 25, 2016
Pool (No Water): 2.5 stars - interesting concept, the plot is so unique and the character(s) while cruel in their action are realistic humans with clear flaws and desires. I imagine the theatrical experience with an inventive production from Frantic Assembly would be superb. However, the text is very open, with no assigned characters which in combination with being written in past-tense removed the sense of stakes or objectives (perhaps a production would remedy this?). I really wanted to love this but on the page is it an average play that had potential but didn't blow me away. Although I would say it is worth reading if the plot intrigues you.
I have not read Citizenship.
I have not read Citizenship.
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April 16, 2015Pool (no water)-would love to see it on stage
Citizenship-can't even remember it and I just read it 12 hours ago
Citizenship-can't even remember it and I just read it 12 hours ago
March 6, 2016
I only read pool (no water) and dang it was amazing. Makes me want to read more of his work.
April 17, 2017
Pool (no water) - 2 stars Citizenship - 3 stars
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews