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.
