Description

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Twenty-eight years before The Importance of Being Earnest, a young woman gives birth to a baby boy. Is it an accident when Nanny places him in a handbag and her unpublished novel into the pram? In 1998 a new baby is stolen and an academic discovers an unpublished novel of more than usual revolting sentimentality. From Victorian wet nurses to 90s sperm banks, Mark Ravenhill's play examines the role of parenting in an age of diverse sexualities, biological engineering and Tinky Winky's handbag.

Praise For…

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A promising idea awaits dramatic payoff in 'Handbag,' the Mark Ravenhill play that — whatever else its achievements — confirms that the author of 'Shopping and Fucking' is no one-play wonder." - Variety

"Handbag entertainingly and sometimes jarringly explores the timeless search for love, acceptance and meaning in what’s often an unwelcoming world." - Washington Blade

"There are few stage authors writing more interestingly than Mark Ravenhill ...He is - it is now yet more evident - a searing, intelligent, disturbing sociologist with a talent for satirical dialogue and a flair for sexual sensationalism." - Financial Times