The Poltergeist

'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.

“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)