The Theatre of Philip Ridley

The Theatre of Philip Ridley is one of the first monographs dealing withPhilip Ridley's entire dramatic oeuvre, including the plays writtenfor teenage and young adult audiences. The book's theoretical frameworkconvincingly suggests that Philip Ridley's plays are aesthetic representationsof accelerated globalization, urbanization, and humanatrocities. It not only offers readings of all major plays written by PhilipRidley in his three decades as a major British playwright but it also deliverssubstantial research reports on the relevant topics informing itsframework such as the relationship of theatre and globalization, socialacceleration, dystopian theatre and of course on Philip Ridley's dramaticoeuvre and impressive career. What makes The Theatre of PhilipRidley stand out is its end-to-end approach, meaning that it pays closeattention to the intricate relationship between content, dramatic form,and stage aesthetics in all of its readings. Using theories like HartmutRosa's social acceleration to support its view on the last three decadesof globalization, the book exclusively offers a distinction between hotand cold dystopian theatre. The book's three analytical chapters showto readers what is to be gained from this distinction and why it makessense to approach many of Ridley's plays with the analytical toolsetprovided by the idea of dystopian theatre.