Overview

'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.

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9781350241152

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Thrilling... I left the theatre convinced that I'd seen a work of genius immaculately performed. Wonderful * Arts Desk (on The Pitchfork Disney) * Ridley's play is completely and dizzyingly of itself. The writing seethes and burns.... Seldom has sexual love been explored on stage with such ferocious honesty. * Guardian (on Tender Napalm) * Ridley pictures consumerism at its most insane and destructive. He's stingingly funny...fierce... dazzling * Evening Standard (on Radiant Vermin) *

Compelling, absorbing, vital, frantic, unmissable. All words that spring to mind for Philip Ridley’s The Poltergeist. This really is a play that demands to be back come the end of lockdown, it is stunning online, one can only imagine how it will feel to see this in the flesh. * Everything Theatre * Ridley’s text is superb: typically energetic, with vigorous storytelling and a dazzling mix of heart and head. He clearly shows how families fight over memories, with disputes over what actually happened being carried on for years, and other people (old neighbors and new acquaintances) being sucked into the dispute. His story has a great big splash of ambiguity, as well as being an all-too-recognizable comedy of suburban manners, where clichés make you grit your teeth and where humanity is always held at bay by social expectations. * Aleks Sierz, Theatre Times * It will come as no surprise to admirers of Philip Ridley, that he has penned another jewel in the crown of theatre, but add in a tour-de-force performance from Joseph Potter and we quite possibly have one of the most remarkable pieces of theatre of the year. With or without a standing ovation, The Poltergeist is one of those rare and unmissable pieces that will be talked about for years to come. * Theatre Weekly * An enthralling new play following our loose-cannon protagonist, Sasha, as he drowns in his deteriorating sanity over the course of a single day. * A Younger Theatre *

Author Information

Philip Ridley was born and grew up in the East End of London. He studied painting at St Martin’s School of Art. He has written many highly regarded and hugely influential stage plays: the seminal The Pitchfork Disney (published as a Methuen Modern Classic), The Fastest Clock in the Universe (winner of a Time Out Award, the Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright, and the Meyer-Whitworth Prize), Ghost from a Perfect Place (nominated for The Evening Standard Best New Play Award), Vincent River (nominated for the London Festival Fringe Best Play Award),the highly controversial Mercury Fur, Leaves of Glass, Piranha Heights (nominated for the WhatsOnStage Mobius Award for Best Off West End Production), Tender Napalm (nominated for the London Fringe Best Play Award), Shivered (nominated for the Off-West End Best New Play Award), Dark Vanilla Jungle (winner of an Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award), Radiant Vermin, Tonight With Donny Stixx and Karagula (nominated for the Off-West End Best New Play Award), plus several plays for young people (collectively known as The Storyteller Sequence): Karamazoo, Fairytaleheart, Moonfleece (named as one of the 50 Best Works About Cultural Diversity by the National Centre for Children’s Books), Sparkleshark, and Brokenville, as well as Feathers in the Snow, and Daffodil Scissors. He has also directed three feature films from his own screenplays: The Reflecting Skin – winner of eleven international awards – The Passion of Darkly Noon (winner of the Best Director Prize at the Porto Film Festival), and Heartless (winner of The Silver Meliers Award for Best Fantasy Film). In 2012 What’s On Stage named him a Jubilee Playwright (one of the most influential British writers to have emerged in the past six decades). Philip has won both the Evening Standard’s Most Promising Newcomer to British Film and Most Promising Playwright Awards. The only person ever to receive both prizes

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