Philip Ridley


Philip Ridley is an English storyteller working in a wide range of artistic media.
In the visual arts he has been cited as a contemporary to the 'Young British Artists', and had his artwork exhibited internationally.
As a novelist he has created fiction for both children and adults, and has had particular success and recognition as a children's author.
In the field of cinema he is perhaps best known for his award-winning screenplay for the 1990 film The Krays, a biopic about the Kray twins which was directed by Peter Medak. As a film-maker in his own right he is recognised for creating a loose trilogy of horror films; The Reflecting Skin, The Passion of Darkly Noon and Heartless for which he has acquired a cult following.
As a playwright he has been cited as a pioneer of 'In-yer-face theatre', with his debut play The Pitchfork Disney considered by many to be a seminal work in the development of the style, with one critic even dubbing it "the key play" of the 1990s. A great number of his plays for adults have been perceived as controversial, being met with both condemnation and high acclaim upon their initial reception. As a writer for the stage he is also recognised for creating an ongoing series of plays for young people and has written theatrical works for children and family audiences.
As a songwriter he has created songs for his cinematic and theatrical works, frequently collaborating with composer Nick Bicât. He and Bicât have also formed a music group called Dreamskin Cradle with singer Mary Leay. Ridley has also written songs for composer Anna Meredith, particularly operatic work.
Ridley is also a poet, photographer, and performance artist and has written drama for radio.
Although Ridley creates stories through a wide range of media he dislikes his work being categorised by the medium in which it is told, often referring to them belonging to each other as "different peaks of the same mountain."

Biography

Ridley was born in Bethnal Green, in the East End of London, where he lived and worked for the majority of his life until moving to Ilford. Ridley studied painting at Saint Martin's School of Art and his work has been exhibited throughout Europe and Japan. 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 and – with calls for it to be displayed behind a curtain – 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.
Work in Literature
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 winner of both the Smarties Prize and the WH Smith Mind-Boggling Book Award, Meteorite Spoon, Kasper in the Glitter nominated for the Whitbread Prize, Scribbleboy shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, Zinderzunder, Vinegar Street, Mighty Fizz Chilla shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award and Zip's Apollo. He also has written two short stories for younger children, Dreamboat Zing and The Hooligan's Shampoo.
Work in Cinema
After graduating from St Martins Ridley created the short film Visiting Mr Beak, which starred the veteran actor Guy Rolfe. He later 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, where it was a critical success and went on to receive theatrical distribution.
While still a student at St Martins Ridley wrote a screenplay for The Krays, which was directed by Peter Medak, and starred real life brothers Gary Kemp and Martin Kemp, who previously were recognised for their band Spandau Ballet.
Ridley has also directed three feature films from his own screenplays: The Reflecting Skin winner of 11 international award, The Passion of Darkly Noon winner of the Best Director Prize at the Porto Film Festival, 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 the Titanic Film Festival had a major retrospective of Ridley's work.
Work in Theatre
Ridley has written 14 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, and Angry.
Ridley is also 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.
Work in Music
Ridley's output as a lyricist has produced a wide range of songs, a number of which have featured in a variety of his plays, films, and novels. While still a student Ridley participated in music by creating work with a band called Haunted Staircase, and also worked as a DJ at a nightclub.
As a songwriter he has regularly collaborated with the 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 later of which was voted as BBC Radio 1's Best Film Song of 1998; and 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, and 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 from the actress Jeany Spark, reflections from Canon Edmund Newell, and extracts from Brothers Grimm fairy tales adapted by poet laureate Carol Anne 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, composed by Anna Meredith, which had its premiere in 2009.
Other Artistic Work
Riley is also a photographer, with his images appearing on the covers of a number of his published playtexts. He also has had a number of photography exhibitions, mainly consisting of portraits of his friends and images of East London.
Ridley is also a poet, with some of his poetry published in a number of anthologies, and has earned a following for his ongoing series of performance poetry Lovesongs for Extinct Creatures.
Ridley has won both the Evening Standards Most Promising Newcomer to British Film and Most Promising Playwright Awards. He is the only person ever to receive both prizes.
He featured on BBC 2's flagship arts programme The Culture Show on 2 March 2012.

List of works (incomplete)

Literature

Works for Adults
Works for Children
Works for Younger Children
Ongoing performance sequence - Lovesongs for Extinct Creatures:
Performance sequence - Heartbeat on the Horizon:
Miscellaneous poetry:
Adult Stage Plays
Libretto
Plays for Young People
Play for the Whole Family
Plays for Children
Monologues
Monologues presented as theatre pieces:
Online monologues:
Feature Films
Short Films
As part of Dreamskin Cradle
2011 – From the stage play Tender Napalm
2013 – From the stage play Dark Vanilla Jungle
2014 – From the Album Songs from Grimm
Songs in Cinematic Works
1995 – From the film The Passion of Darkly Noon
2010 – From the film Heartless
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
Solo Shows