Philip Ridley


Philip Ridley is an English playwright, filmmaker, writer, and multi-disciplinary artist. He has produced works in a wide variety of mediums and genres, and has self-described as a "storyteller".
As a dramatist, he has been described as "a pioneer of In-yer-face theatre", which is a style and sensibility of drama that characterised many new plays that were performed in Britain during the 1990s. Ridley's debut play, The Pitchfork Disney, is considered by many to be a seminal work that influenced the development of this form of theatre. One critic dubbed it "the key play" of the 1990s. He is also recognised for creating an ongoing series of plays for young people.
As a visual artist he has been cited as a contemporary of the Young British Artists, and had his artwork exhibited internationally. In film, he is perhaps best known for his award-winning screenplay for the film, The Krays, a biopic about the Kray twins which was directed by Peter Medak. As a filmmaker in his own right, he created a loose trilogy of horror films: The Reflecting Skin, The Passion of Darkly Noon and Heartless for which he has acquired a cult following.
Ridley is also a novelist, songwriter, poet, photographer, performance artist, and has written drama for radio.

Life and career

Ridley was born in Bethnal Green in the East End of London, where he lived and worked until moving to another part of East London, Ilford, in 2014. Ridley studied painting at Saint Martin's School of Art, and his work has been exhibited throughout Europe and Japan. Ridley is gay.
He started as both a performance artist and the creator of a long sequence of charcoal drawings called The Epic of Oracle Foster. One drawing from this sequence, "Corvus Cum", portraying a man ejaculating a black bird, was exhibited at the ICA in London while Ridley was still a student. With calls by some viewers for it to be displayed behind a curtain, it became a cause célèbre. Ridley also started his own theatre group as a student, acting in many of the productions, and made several short art films.

Writing

Ridley has written three books for adults: Crocodilia, In the Eyes of Mr. Fury, and Flamingoes in Orbit.
His children's novels include Mercedes Ice, Dakota of the White Flats, Krindlekrax , Meteorite Spoon, Kasper in the Glitter , Scribbleboy , Zinderzunder, Vinegar Street, Mighty Fizz Chilla , and Zip's Apollo. He also has written two short stories for younger children, Dreamboat Zing and The Hooligan's Shampoo.

Film

After graduating from St Martin's, Ridley created the short film, Visiting Mr Beak, which starred the veteran actor Guy Rolfe. The next year he created a short film for Channel 4 called The Universe of Dermot Finn, which featured renowned actress Sheila Hancock and was officially selected for the Cannes Film Festival. A critical success there, it received theatrical distribution.
While still a student at St Martin's, Ridley wrote a screenplay for The Krays, which was directed by Peter Medak and starred real-life brothers Gary Kemp and Martin Kemp. They had previously been recognised for their band, Spandau Ballet.
Ridley has also directed three feature films from his own screenplays: The Reflecting Skin , The Passion of Darkly Noon , and Heartless.
Ridley's third film as writer-director, Heartless, premiered at the Frightfest horror film festival in London in August 2009. The film stars Jim Sturgess, Clémence Poésy, Noel Clarke, Eddie Marsan, Luke Treadaway, Ruth Sheen, and Timothy Spall, and was released in the UK in May 2010. It was the first mainstream British film to be released across all platforms at the same time.
In 1996 Hungary's Titanic Film Festival had a retrospective of Ridley's work.

Theatre

Ridley has written many adult stage plays: the seminal The Pitchfork Disney, the multi-award-winning The Fastest Clock in the Universe, Ghost from a Perfect Place, Vincent River, the controversial Mercury Fur, Leaves of Glass, Piranha Heights, Tender Napalm, Shivered, Dark Vanilla Jungle, Radiant Vermin, Tonight with Donny Stixx, Karagula, The Poltergeist, Tarantula, Copper Beeches, and In The Forest of Starlight and Shrapnel.
Ridley has also written various monologues, many of which have been selectively performed together onstage. This includes Killer performed in 2017, Angry performed in 2018, and The Beast Will Rise performed in 2020.
Ridley is additionally known for his series of plays for young people, consisting of Karamazoo, Fairytaleheart, Moonfleece, Sparkleshark, and Brokenville.
He has also written two plays for young children, Daffodil Scissors and Krindlekrax - a stage adaptation of his successful children's novel of the same name - as well as a play for the whole family, Feathers in the Snow.
Ridley was one of 25 contemporary British writers asked to contribute a scene to NT25 Chain Play, celebrating 25 years of the Royal National Theatre in London.

Music

Ridley has written a wide range of songs, some of which have featured in his plays, films, and novels. As a student Ridley participated in music by creating work with a band called Haunted Staircase. He also worked as a DJ.
As a songwriter he has regularly collaborated with composer, Nick Bicât. For Ridley's film, The Passion of Darkly Noon, they created two songs: "Look What You've Done" and "Who Will Love Me Now?", the latter of which was voted as BBC Radio 1's Best Film Song of 1998. It was later covered by the techno/house band Sunscreem as Please Save Me, whose cover entered the UK top 40 chart, became a cult hit in clubs, and featured in the film South West 9. For his film Heartless, Ridley and Bicât created ten songs.
In 2010 Ridley and Bicât formed the music group, 'Dreamskin Cradle'. The group's first album, Songs from Grimm, consisted of twelve songs inspired by female characters in Brothers Grimm fairy tales; it was released on all major download sites. Some songs from the album were performed as part of a live performance called Grimm Tales, which was developed by the St Paul's Institute and featured readings by actress Jeany Spark, reflections from Canon Edmund Newell, and extracts from Brothers Grimm fairy tales adapted by poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy. Dreamskin Cradle have also released two singles: Fade and Float and Ladybird First.
Ridley also has written the libretto of an opera for teenagers titled Tarantula in Petrol Blue. With music composed by Anna Meredith, it had its premiere in 2009.

Other work

Ridley is a photographer, and his images have appeared on the covers of some of his published plays. He also has had photography exhibitions, mainly consisting of portraits of his friends and images of East London.
Ridley is also a poet. Some poetry has been published in anthologies, and he has earned a following for his ongoing series of performance poetry, Lovesongs for Extinct Creatures.
Ridley has won the Evening Standard awards for Most Promising Newcomer to British Film and Most Promising Playwright. He is the only person ever to receive both prizes.
He was featured on BBC2's arts programme, The Culture Show, on 2 March 2012.
Ridley dislikes his work being categorised by the medium in which it is told, often referring to the different genre pieces belonging to each other as "different peaks of the same mountain."

List of works

Literature

Works for Adults
  • 1986 – Embracing Verdi
  • 1987 – Leviathan
  • 1988 – Crocodilia
  • 1989 – In the Eyes of Mr. Fury
  • 1990 – Flamingoes in Orbit
  • 1995 – Alien Heart
  • 1997 – Introduction to Philip Ridley Plays: 1
  • 1998 – Wonderful Insect
  • 2009 – Introduction to Philip Ridley Plays: 2
  • 2021 – Sunday
Works for Children
  • 1989 – Mercedes Ice
  • 1989 – Dakota of the White Flats
  • 1991 – Krindlekrax
  • 1994 – Meteorite Spoon
  • 1995 – Kasper in the Glitter
  • 1997 – Scribbleboy
  • 1998 – Zinderzunder
  • 2000 – Vinegar Street
  • 2002 – Mighty Fizz Chilla
  • 2005 – Zip's Apollo
Works for Younger Children
  • 1996 – The Hooligan's Shampoo
  • 1996 – ''Dreamboat Zing''

Poetry

Ongoing performance sequence - Lovesongs for Extinct Creatures:Your LoveDark Sky CravingThe Silver HatI'm Waiting to be KilledThe Seams
Performance sequence - Heartbeat on the Horizon:Press ConferenceAfterFlash BoomShrapnelI Will
Miscellaneous poetry:The Dying Lizard ManSomeone Wants to Kill Me AgainGetting Through The DayThe Prince and the SnailWaiting For Faces To FallI Am The Boy
  • ''Sparkling Cannibals''

Theatre

Adult Stage Plays
Libretto
  • 2007 – On Such A Day
  • 2009 – Tarantula in Petrol Blue
Plays for Young People
Play for the Whole Family
  • 2012 – Feathers in the Snow
Plays for Children
  • 2000 – Scribbleboy
  • 2002 – Krindlekrax
  • 2004 – Daffodil Scissors
Monologues
  • 1986 – Vesper
  • ???? – Bloodshot
  • ???? – Angry
  • ???? – Vooosh!
  • ???? – Now
  • ???? – Okay
  • ???? – Wound
  • ???? – It
  • 2013 – Dark Vanilla Jungle
  • 2015 – Tonight with Donny Stixx
  • 2017 – Killer
  • 2017 – Sledgehammers
  • 2018 – Dancing
Monologues presented as theatre pieces:
Online monologues:

Radio plays

  • 1989 – October Scars the Skin
  • 1989 – The Aquarium of Coincidences
  • 1991 – ''Shambolic Rainbow''

Film

Feature Films
Short Films
  • 1987 – Visiting Mr Beak
  • 1988 – ''The Universe of Dermot Finn''

Songs

As part of Dreamskin Cradle
2011 – From the stage play Tender NapalmFade and Float
2013 – From the stage play Dark Vanilla JungleLadybird First
2014 – From the Album Songs from Grimm
  • The Path You Know
  • Fearless
  • Waiting For You
  • Don't Call Me Magic
  • Not Here
  • Did That Just Happen
  • Things Will Change
  • Somewhere Something's Spinning
  • I Found You
  • A Million Magic Things
  • Bring You Back
  • Tenderly Tender Me
Songs in Cinematic Works
1995 – From the film The Passion of Darkly Noon Who Will Love Me Now? Look What You've Done
2010 – From the film Heartless Heartless This Is The World We Live In What Skin Is All About The Other Me Lie to Me It Must Be Somewhere The Darker It Gets In You Are All The Stories Beautiful Phoenix in Dynamite Sky
Other musical works
198? – From the record single Flutters
2009 – Fin Like a Flower
2009 – Songless
2010 – Heal You
2016 – ''Love and Defection''

Exhibitions

Group Shows
  • 1981 – New Contemporaries, ICA, London.
  • 1982 – New Contemporaries, ICA, London.
  • 1983 – Christie's Student Show, Christie's, London.
  • 1984 – The Leicester Exhibition, Leicester.
  • 1985 – Open Drawing Exhibition, Tettenhall Gallery, Wolverhampton.
  • 1985 – Open Exhibition, Lamont Gallery, London.
  • 1986 – Ten Painters, 7th Floor Gallery, St. Martin's School of Art, London.
  • 1986 – Summer Exhibition, Bernard Baron Gallery, London.
  • 1987 – Group Show, Tom Allen Centre, London.
  • 1987 – Selected Show, Lamont Gallery, London.
  • 1987 – Young Contemporaries, Birch & Conran, London.
  • 1988 – Decency, Discreetly Bizarre Gallery, London.
  • 1988 – Selected Show, Lamont Gallery, London.
  • 1988 – Mendacity, Discreetly Bizarre Gallery, London.
  • 1988 – Magical Cats, Lamont Gallery, London.
  • 1988 – Art Jonction International, Nice, France.
  • 1988 – Bergamo Art Fair, Bergamo, Italy.
  • 1996 – Freezeframe, Lamont Gallery, London.
  • 2011 – Behind The Eyes, The Sassoon Gallery, London.
Solo Shows
  • 1985 – The Roaring Dreams Show, Tom Allen Centre, London.
  • 1985 – The Feeling Landscapes Show, Bernard Baron Gallery, London.
  • 1985 – The Glittering Gargolyes Show, The Fallen Angel, London.
  • 1986 – Mermaids, Monsters and Sleeping Moons, Mermaid Theatre, London.
  • 1986 – Recent Images, The Fallen Angel, London.
  • 1986 – The Epic of Oracle Foster, Lamont Gallery, London.
  • 1987 – Shy Moon, The Garden Gallery, London.
  • 1989 – The Vinegar Blossoms, Lamont Gallery, London.
  • 2007 – Recent Portraits, The Soho Theatre, London
  • 2007 – East London, Trafalgar Studios, London
  • 2008 – Recent Portraits 2, The Soho Theatre, London
  • 2017 – Rebels and Rubble, Shoreditch Town Hall, London

Selected works in anthologies

  • 1987 – Short Story Embracing Verdi in the anthology Oranges and Lemons: Stories by Gay Men
  • 1988 – Short Story Leviathan in the anthology 20 Under 35: Original Stories by Britain's Best New Young Writers
  • 1995 – Short Story Alien Heart in Projections 4½
  • 1996 – Extract from The Fastest Clock in the Universe in the collection Live 3: Critical Mass
  • 1997 – Short Story Embracing Verdi in the anthology The Mammoth Book of Gay Short Stories
  • 1997 – Three poems: Someone Wants to Kill Me, The Seams and Getting Through the Day in The Bush Theatre Book
  • 2000 – Extract from Krindlekrax in the collection Out of this world
  • 2003 – Poem The Silver Hat in the anthology Love
  • 2005 – Poem The Prince and the Snail in the anthology The Works 4
  • 2007 – Three poems: Dark Sky Craving, Waiting For Faces To Fall and I Am The Boy in the anthology Poems for the Retired Nihilist: Volume 2
  • 2009 – Monologue Vesper in Modern British Playwriting: The 1990s: Voices, Documents, New Interpretations
  • 2021 – Short story Sunday in ''Mainstream: An Anthology of Stories from the Edges''

Derivative works

  • In the British radio and TV comedy Little Britain, the character of Vicky Pollard comes from Darkley Noone council estates. This is named after Ridley's film The Passion of Darkly Noon.
  • The music track The Light at the End by industrial/noise rock duo Uniform uses a dialogue excerpt from The Reflecting Skin.
  • In 2011 the Schema Arts Collective used Ridley's 2005 play Mercury Fur as the basis for a community arts project called Behind the Eyes, which took place at the Sassoon Gallery, London. The project featured an amateur production of Mercury Fur, displayed artwork inspired by the play, and Ridley collaborated by exhibiting a series of photographic portraits he had created of the production's cast. A behind the scenes documentary about the project called Mercury Fur Unveiled was also made and later broadcast on the Community Channel in 2013. It is .
  • In 2007 performance pieces inspired by Ridley's semi-autobiographical Introduction to Philip Ridley Plays: 1 were presented by young directors under the title Gleaming Dark. This received a one-off performance at Trafalgar Studios in conjunction with the venue's revival of Ridley's play Vincent River.
  • A quote from Ridley's children novel Dakota of the White Flats is used as the epigraph for chapter 6 of Cornelia Funke's young adult fantasy novel Inkspell.
  • The German band Troy Flamingo are named after a character from one of Ridley's short stories.
  • The American band Reflecting Skin is named after Ridley's film of the same name.
  • Reece Nagra's remix of Buju Banton's song Murderer opens with an excerpt of dialogue from The Krays. It develops as a drum and bass anthem.
  • Phil Western's 1998 album The Escapist features excerpts of dialogue from The Reflecting Skin.
  • The song Fury Eyes is dedicated to Ridley's novel In the Eyes of Mr. Fury.
  • The song Troy Flamingo from Madonna Hip Hop Massaker's 1995 album Teenie Trap is based on the title story of Ridley's 1999 book Flamingoes in Orbit.
  • Ridley's song Who Will Love Me Now? was covered by the techno/house band Sunscreem under the title Please Save Me. The song became a cult hit in clubs, entered the top 40 UK chart, top 30 US dance chart and featured in the film South West 9.
  • The music track Phantasm which opens Biosphere's 1994 album Patashnik samples dialogue from The Krays.
  • The song Omlagus Garfungiloops features excerpts of dialogue from The Reflecting Skin.
  • The Scottish band River Head used a photography still from The Reflecting Skin on the cover of their 1992 single sided 7-inch EP Was Away / Haddit.
  • Ridley's image Rainbow Kiss was used on the cover of the short story collection Oranges and Lemons: Stories by Gay Men, to which he also contributed as a writer.
  • Ridley's charcoal drawing The Conversation was used as the cover to cult band Blowzabella's 1988 album Pingha Frenzy.

Notable awards won

Notable award nominations

  • Longlisted for the 2016 Off-West End Best New Play Award for Karagula
  • Longlisted for the 2016 Off-West End Best Production Award for Karagula
  • Shortlisted for the 2011 London Festival Fringe Best Play Award for the 2010 London revival of Vincent River.
  • Shortlisted for the 2013 Brian Way Best New Play Award for Feathers in the Snow
  • Shortlisted for the 2012 Off-West End Best New Play Award for Shivered
  • Shortlisted for the 2011 London Festival Fringe Best Play Award for the 2010 London revival of Vincent River.
  • Nominated for the 2011 London Festival Fringe Best Play Award for Tender Napalm
  • Shortlisted for The MOBIUS Best Off-West End Production award for Piranha Heights at the 2009 WhatsOnStage.com Theatregoers Choice Awards
  • Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Mighty Fizz Chilla
  • Shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Award: The Book I Couldn't Put Down for Mighty Fizz Chilla
  • Shortlisted for The Carnegie Medal for Scribbleboy
  • Shortlisted for the 1995 Whitbread Children's Book Award for Kasper in the Glitter
  • Shortlisted for the 1990 Evening Standard British Film Awards for Best Screenplay for The Krays
  • Best Short Film at Cannes Film Festival for ''The Universe of Dermot Finn''