Candide - Paperback

by Mark Ravenhill (Author)

Candide is an optimist. A dreamer. He believes that everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. But that belief is about to be tested as Candides comfortable life is overtaken by an endless barrage of misfortune. As his world collapses around him the story travels across the centuries to new locations and parallel universes. How will Candides optimism fare when it collides with life in the 21st century. The play is structured around two parallel narratives: one tells the story of Candides attempts to reunite with his love Cunegonde; the other follows a woman who experiences a hugely traumatic event as she attempts to find a way back to happiness.

Author Biography

Mark Ravenhill is one of the most distinctive contemporary UK playwrights. He burst on to the theatre scene in 1996 with the huge hit Shopping and Fucking. He has continued to garner critical acclaim for plays that include Some Explicit Polaroids, Mother Clap's Molly House, Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat (National Theatre, Royal Court, Paines Plough, The Gate Theatre, April 2008), A Life in Three Acts, and Ten Plagues. He is currently Writer-in-Residence at the RSC. His adaptation of Brecht's A Life of Galileo was recently produced in the Swan Theatre.