Philip Ridley – författare

When Dakota Pink decides to find out the truth about Medusa's baby monster it is the beginning of a quest that will lead Dakota and her best friend, Treacle, away from the White Flats to Dog Island and the Fortress. Will they manage to excape the mutant killer eels to discover what lies behind the barbed wire of the Fortress and who the mysterious Lassitter Peach is?

Bailey arrives in a new neighbourhood with his extraordinary family. He has no friends but receives a mysterious invitation to join the Scribbleboy Fan Club. The one and only founder member is Ziggy Fuzz. His vital mission is to spread the word about Scribbleboy and his amazing scribbles which years ago transformed the gloomy grey concrete of the neighbourhood. Swept along in plans to discover the identity of the mythical artist, Bailey carries on his work so the scribbles start again and eventually he discovers the scribbleboy is in fact a scribblegirl!

Puffin Classics: the definitive collection of timeless stories, for every child. "You know when you feel a rumbling in the ground, and people tell you it's a tube train going by? Well, it's not a tube train,' Corky said. 'It's the thing that lives in the sewers. It comes up at night, when we're asleep.' 'What is it?' Ruskin asked breathlessly. 'Krindlekrax,' Corky replied.There are plenty of weird and wonderful characters who live on Lizard Street. The hero of our story is Ruskin Splinter. But to be honest, Ruskin is a very unlikely hero. Small and thin, with knock-knees, thick glasses, a squeaky voice, no one at Ruskin's school believes he's capable of anything - all except for Ruskin's only friend Corky, the school caretaker. Ruskin is therefore delighted when Corky tells him the terrifying story of Krindlekrax: the giant crocodile who lives beneath their town's streets. Finally, a chance to prove himself! But can Ruskin really save the day?This witty, off-the-wall story is a classic rip-roaring adventure, from award-winning author Philip Ridley. Packed full of hilarious illustrations, this edition also has fun bonus activities!"Fizzes with life and humour ... outstanding" - Sunday Times

Winner of the 1990 Evening Standard Film Award for Best Film Post-war East End London. Ronnie and Reggie Kray are school ground bullies brought up by a domineering mother and two devoted aunts. National Service and spells in prison expose the brutality that helps establish the twin brothers as the kings of 1960s gangland London. Philip Ridley's original, uncut screenplay, almost as notorious as its subject matter is a stylised meditation on maternal love, childhood, violence and homoeroticism and takes its place as one of the masterpieces of contemporary cinema."Ridley...reveals himself most welcomely as a genuinely innovative film maker, untrammelled by conventions and with an individualistic imagination firing on all cylinders." (The Evening Standard)

"Philip Ridley is a singular writer, a prolific polymath, probably a genius, and the creator of some of the most peculiar, grotesque and compelling British plays (and films) of the last several years" (Time Out) Ridley's film debut The Reflecting Skin caused a sensation at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival and went on to win eleven international awards. Set in the Idaho farmlands of the 1950s, the film follows eight-year-old Seth through a mythical summer where reality is heightened to the level of an hallucinogenic, quasi-fantasy. The Passion of Darkly Noon is a modern fable; echoing the surrealist style of Ridley's dazzling and innovative debut film. A young man roaming the American countryside, the victim of a savage attack on his religious cult, is rescued by Callie, for whom he develops a dangerous obsession. "Provocative, shocking and disturbing, a true original...a masterpiece." (What's On)

Challenging new play by the enfant terrible of dark, disturbing drama Elliot is panicking. The party that he and his brother Darren have been planning has been brought forward - to tonight. In a lawless, ravaged city, where memories of the past have been brutally erased, the boys and their team survive by realising their clients' darkest fantasies. But just how far are they prepared to go in trading humanity for information? As the light fades and events spiral out of control it becomes clear that on the success of the evening hangs not just their security, but their existence. The world is at its worst...let the party begin. Mercury Fur is a challenging new work containing some explicit scenes that may cause offence.Published to tie-in with the play's premier at the Drum Theatre, Plymouth and The Chololate Factory, London in February 2005, produced by Paines Plough. "Philip Ridley is a singular writer, a prolific polymath, probably a genius, and the creator of some of the most peculiar, grotesque and compelling British plays (and films) of the last several years" Time Out

On the surface, Steven has everything. A beautiful wife, a successful business, a brand new home. But beneath the glittering veneer lies a monstrous secret ...'You believe him cos he wraps all the painful stuff in feathers and flowers. Makes it all safe and cosy. You can't feel the broken glass inside.' Leaves of Glass is a rich, complex play about two brothers and the hold that the past and memory has on them. Haunted by the death of his father and a car accident involving a young child, Steve finds his life unraveling and his pregnant wife unable to comprehend his pain and sense of loss. Known for his dark disturbing dramas, Ridley's latest play is a deeply human drama that shifts between elegy for the past and a chilling exploration of the power of loss and grief.

A doorway to a new future is ready to open. We are the hinge of that moment. We will let the door swing wide.On a beautiful spring evening – when both moons are full – two teenagers vow eternal love. It is a moment that will have cataclysmic consequences. Not just for them, but for the world on which they live. A world where Prom Night is a matter of life or death, where weapons are grown and trained like pets, and where a chosen few are hearing a voice. A voice that speaks of ... Karagula.Philip Ridley’s extraordinary, form-shattering Karagula is a play of epic proportions. Written in a fractured timescale, it explores our constant need to find meaning. To believe we’re here for a reason. To have faith in something. Faith in ... anything.Karagula received its world premiere on 10 June 2016 at a secret London location in one of the largest productions ever staged in the Off-West End.

Have you ever struggled to find the perfect monologue?Do you want to lose yourself in an unforgettable story?Do you want to be…transported?Philip Ridley’s The Vespers is a major work by a major writer. 100 original, self-contained monologues for actors (and readers) of all genders, all ages, and all levels of experience. Varying in length, style and structure – from the surreally comic to the heartbreakingly tragic – this is an essential toolkit for any actor (or anyone who enjoys a good story) with an introduction by Cath Badham, Lecturer in Performance at the University of Derby, UK.

“The hallmarks of a Ridley classic; a fast-paced modern fairy-tale that burrows into the dark wormholes of the imagination … reveals how below all that glitters, there’s rarely gold.” Exeunt Ollie and Jill want to tell you about their dream home. Some of the things they did to get it, you might find shocking. But they want you to know they did it all for their baby…A wickedly comic satire about a young couple offered a 'too good to be true' way onto the property ladder. Playful, provocative, and viciously sharp, this outrageous black comedy is a meditation on how far we will go to satisfy - and justify - materialistic greed.Radiant Vermin premiered in 2015 at Soho Theatre, London.This Modern Classics edition features a brand new introduction by Aleks Sierz.

Theatre has a complex history of responding to crises, long before they happen. Through stage plays, contemporary challenges can be presented, explored and even foreshadowed in ways that help audiences understand the world around them. Since the theatre of the Greeks, audiences have turned to live theatre in order to find answers in uncertain political, social and economic times, and through this unique collection questions about This anthology brings together a collection of 20 scenes from 20 playwrights that each respond to the world in crisis. Twenty of the world’s most prolific playwrights were asked to select one scene from across their published work that speaks to the current world situation in 2020. As COVID-19 continues to challenge every aspect of global life, contemporary theatre has long predicted a world on the edge. Through these 20 scenes from plays spanning from 1980 to 2020, we see how theatre and art has the capacity to respond, comment on and grapple with global challenges that in turn speak to the current time in which we are living. Each scene, chosen by the writer, is prefaced by an interview in which they discuss their process, their reason for selection and how their work reflects both the past and the present. From the political plays of Lucy Prebble and James Graham to the polemics of Philip Ridley and Tim Crouch. From bold works by Inua Ellams, Morgan Lloyd Malcom and Tanika Gupta to the social relevance of Hannah Khalil, Zoe Cooper and Simon Stephens this anthology looks at theatre in the present and asks the question: “how can theatre respond to a world in crisis?” The collection is prefaced by an introduction from Edward Bond, one of contemporary theatre’s most prolific dramatists.

'Art’s my hobby too.’ Hobby?!Sasha was destined to take the art world by storm. At the age of fifteen pop stars wanted his paintings, and a new exhibition was going to make him a rich man.But now he serves in a stationers, and no one’s even heard of him… what went wrong?Philip Ridley’s darkly comic new play is about art, family, memory, and being haunted by the life we never lived.This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere performance at London's Southwark Playhouse, which was performed live and live-streamed around the world in November 2020.

Of course – as you’ve no doubt guessed – there’s a big ‘But Then’ moment heading this way…It’s a sunny, spring day in East London.On a street corner, two teenagers kiss.One of them is Toni. This is her first kiss.It makes her very happy.But someone is watching.Someone who doesn’t care about her happiness at all.And they’re about to change Toni’s life… forever.Philip Ridley’s thrilling new play is a startling exploration of identity, memory, love, and the lengths it takes someone to free themselves from the web of their past.

‘That’s the way it works in this family. Believe what you wanna believe. Twist this. Ignore the other. That’s how we survive.’Steven has always tried to be a good person. He works hard. He looks after his family. But, suddenly, everyone starts accusing him of things. His wife accuses him of being unfaithful. His mother accuses him of being coercive. And his brother, Barry, accuses him of...what exactly?Barry won’t say. Or can’t. Or perhaps... Steven hasn’t done anything at all.Following its critically acclaimed premiere at Soho Theatre in 2007, Philip Ridley’s gripping narrative of memory, manipulation, and power – now regarded as a modern classic – returns in a new production by long-time collaborators, Lidless Theatre. This edition was published alongside the production at the Park Theatre, London, in May 2023.

Davey has seen something he can't forget. Anita has been forced to flee her home. These two have never met. Tonight their paths cross with devastating consequences. Thrilling, heartbreaking and darkly humorous by turns, Vincent River explores the classic Ridley themes of loss, sexual identity, the family as a destructive force, East London and the redemptive power of storytelling. Vincent River premiered at Hampstead Theatre on 6 September 2000. It received its West End premiere at the Trafalgar Studios on 30 October 2007.

Philip Ridley's latest play for Soho Theatre brings his unique blend of story-telling mixed with an apocalyptic vision of a society at conflict with itself to the stage. 'Look - they're fading. Those liars. Dissolving ...It's the end of their world ...The birth of a new one ...Our one ...Our world.' It's Mother's Day and mother is dead. Now her two sons gather in her home to argue about the truth of their childhood. But a storm is approaching ...with a violent new truth all of its own. This programme playtext is published to tie in with the premiere at Soho Theatre, London, on 15 May 2008. Praise for Leaves of Glass: 'Like a shard of glass plunged straight to the heart ...superb.' Guardian

This second volume of Ridley's stage plays confirms him as one of the most imaginative, daring and unique voices currently working in theatre. All four plays collected here resonant with Ridley's trademark themes - East London, storytelling, moments of shocking violence, memories of the past, fantastical monologues, and that strange mix of the barbaric and the beautiful he has made all his own. Vincent River: '...a grieving mother and a traumatized teenager meet as adversaries, rough each other up and eventually bond over a barbaric act of cruelty...Ridley asks questions, lots of them, about how people respond to the loss of innocence in their lives, how they hold onto their sanity in the face of savagery and how they fight to keep the bonds of humanity intact in a mad, mad world.' Variety Mercury Fur: '...depicts a scary, post-apocalyptic London where, in their struggle to survive, a group of youths are reduced to organising parties that cater for the most perverted tastes.' Independent Leaves of Glass: 'There is a different kind of murder going on here: the murder of truth that goes on in all families to a lesser or greater degree.As with nations, a family's history is written by the victors.' Guardian Piranha Heights: 'The extravagance of Ridley's dark vision suggests a dangerously confused society in which individuals seize on random gobbets of semi-digested information and use them to construct their own personal narrative.' The Times

It's Cougar's birthday. He's having a party. And the gift he'd kill for is youth...In a strange room in East London the party preparations are under way. Everything has been planned to the last detail. Surely nothing can go wrong? After all, there's the specially made birthday cake, the specially written cards, the specially chosen guest of honour...and a very, very sharp knife. Philip Ridley's edgy and provocative drama caused a sensation when it premiered at Hampstead Theatre in 1992, winning the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer to the Stage and the Meyer Whitworth Prize. It is now regarded as a contemporary classic. 'A bit like a ride on a ghost train...you find yourself shuddering with shock and laughing uproariously...horror has rarely been so much fun' Daily Telegraph 'Scorchingly nasty...fingers an age and its icons with terrifying accuracy' Guardian

Moonfleece is an intense and thrilling exploration of memory and identity, with themes of contemporary resonance: racism, homophobia, and how those in authority distort both the truth and the past. This play is Philip Ridley's most direct representation yet of his hopes and fears for disadvantaged, diverse communities of today's society, as two groups of teenagers are forced to judge for themselves the prejudices and preconceptions of their parents. This is a vital, relevant and compelling story for the whole country and especially young people from all backgrounds. The plot follows Curtis, who has arranged a secret meeting in a flat of a derelict tower block. Years ago, when he was a child, Curtis lived here before tragedy struck in the form of his elder brother's death. Now Curtis is seeing his brother's ghost. With the aid of Gavin and Tommy, fellow members of the right wing political party of which he is a leading figure, and his ex-girlfriend, Sarah, Curtis aims to find out why this ghost is haunting him. Things, however, do not go as planned and a hitherto secret story has to be revealed. A story that will change Curtis's life forever.

This volume contains Ridley's first three plays, which heralded the arrival of a unique and disturbing voice in the world of contemporary drama. They are seminal works in the development of the 'in yer face' theatre that emerged in Britain during the mid-1990s.The three plays here all manifest Ridley's vivid and visionary imagination and the dark beauty of his outlook. They resonate with his trademark themes: East London, storytelling, moments of shocking violence, memories of the past, fantastical monologues, and that strange mix of the barbaric and the beautiful he has made all his own.The Pitchfork Disney was Ridley's first play and is now seen as launching a new generation of playwrights who were unafraid to shock and court controversy. This unsettling, dreamlike piece has surreal undertones and thematically explores fear, dreams and story-telling. The Fastest Clock in the Universe is a multi-award-winning play which caused a sensation when it premiered at Hampstead Theatre in 1992. An edgy and provocative drama, it is now regarded as a contemporary classic.Ghost from a Perfect Place is a scorchingly nasty blend of comedy, spectacle and terror where a monster from the past meets the monsters of the present. The volume contains the definitive version of the plays, plus an extended and updated introduction and three monologues (Bloodshot, Angry and Voosh), published here for the first time.

I could squeeze a bullet between those lips. Point first. Press it between those rosebud lips. Prise it between your pearly whites. Gently. I wouldn't break a single tooth. Philip Ridley's first new play since 2008 marks a change of direction for the acclaimed, ever-restless and maverick writer. Tender Napalm is a high-impact, high-concept two-handed play which explores the landscape that is a relationship between a man and a woman. Explosive, poetic, brutal and ultimately redemptive, the play weaves a compelling theatrical tapestry to re-examine and re-define the language of love. This volume also contains five poems from the performance sequence Lovesongs for Extinct Creatures: Your Love, Dark Sky Craving, The Silver Hat, I'm Waiting to be Killed and The Seams, publishing for the first time extracts from Philip Ridley's cycle of love poetry.

'We can't all just be hurtling through nothing towards nowhere...can we?'A young couple are moving into their new home. A soldier is being held hostage. Two boys are searching for monsters. All these things are connected by both family and time but what story can be told when family and time are broken?Set over the course of twelve years, Shivered unpicks the story of two families and then re-weaves it into something new and startling. Seven people, one war, a derelict car plant and mysterious lights in the sky come together in the Essex new-town of Draylingstowe, where the view from green hills once offered hope and prosperity for all.An oblique and startlingly anachronistic piece, the timeframe is an emotional, rather than linear sequence, reflecting the characters' broken memories and shattered lives. Depicting a panorama of people and time, connecting links of friendship, family and encounters eddy around each other in a tantalising, surprising and intelligent way. Shivered is a state of the nation play meets a dreamlike memory play.

'Ridley's play, with its surreal fantasies, has an edgy, alarming potency of its own, the writing unfettered by any expectations of how a play should be.' - GuardianAgainst a backdrop of post-apocalyptic dreams, blood-hungry dogs and labyrinthine nightmares, Presley and his twin sister, Haley, eat chocolate and tell each other stories in order to fend off their darkest fears. Everything will be okay as long as they stay together, inside. But then, one night, Presley sees a beautiful stranger through the window – 18-year-old Cosmo Disney – and, while Haley sleeps, unbolts the front door and lets him in.First produced in 1991, The Pitchfork Disney heralded the arrival of a unique and disturbing voice that single-handedly changed the face of British drama. Vivid and visionary, Philip Ridley’s unsettling and dreamlike play offers a prophetic exploration of fear, sexual paranoia, and living in ‘alternative worlds’. Published in Methuen Drama’s Modern Classics series, Ridley’s breakthrough work is introduced by Aleks Sierz (author of In-Yer-Face Theatre).

Beneath a sky full of stars a decision is made. This decision sets off an astonishing chain of events. And a journey involving a talking leopard, a greedy King, a magical bird, a tidal wave, a Sea Witch, a lost soldier, a devious dolphin, a war - and a trail of feathers in the snow . . . Feathers in the Snow, a family show by acclaimed playwright and children's author Philip Ridley, is an epic story of magic and migration. Covering over five hundred years - and with a huge cast - it explores how stories give meaning to random events and of our constant need to find somewhere we call 'home'. Feathers in the Snow reunites director David Mercatali with playwright Philip Ridley, following their collaboration in 2011 on Tender Napalm which was named one of the Guardian, Observer and Time Out's best shows of 2011.

It was a very hot day – dazzling sunshine! – and Mum – she was wiping sweat from her neck. No, not wiping. Dabbing . . . Dab . . . Dab. Mum was a beauty. Not like me. And don’t tell me I am because you’ll be lying and I won’t thank you for it. Not today. Not when this whole thing – us, here - is about me telling the truth. The latest from Philip Ridley is a beautiful, breathtaking new drama about one girl's craving for family and home, and the lengths she will go to achieve them. Dark Vanilla Jungle embarked on a national tour of Great Britain in spring 2014.This edition also features a selection of previously unpublished monologues by Philip Ridley alongside the play.

This collection brings together Philip Ridley's one-act plays for young people, known as The Storyteller Sequence, ideal for teenagers to either watch or perform.Karamazoo is a fifteen-minute monologue about one of the coolest, most popular kids in the school, whose recent increase in popularity is the direct result of a character make-over following the death of a parent. A witty and moving performance piece for the teenage actor.Fairytaleheart features two fifteen-year-olds, Kirsty and Gideon, who meet for the first time and come to terms with their broken families by sharing their hopes, fears and past experiences - as well as stories - in a derelict community centre. Sparkleshark tells of fourteen-year-old Jake - a victim of bullying and other teenager's mockery - who has to take refuge on the roof of a tower block in order to write his stories. Moonfleece sees Curtis, a young right-wing activist, arrange a meeting in a flat of a derelict tower block where he lived as a child. But his older brother's ghost keeps haunting him. Moonfleece is an intense and thrilling exploration of memory and identity. Brokenville features an unknown disaster, which has left seven characters with little knowledge of who they are or of what has happened. As an old woman and five teenagers begin to act out stories for a mute and frightened child, they begin to discover a little of who they were and what they can be.