Leaves of Glass

Leaves of Glass
Written by	Philip Ridley
Characters	Steven (Male, aged 27) Barry (Male, aged 22) Debbie (Female, aged 33) Liz (Female, aged 55)
Date premiered	3 May 2007
Place premiered	Soho Theatre, London
Original language	English

Leaves of Glass is the sixth adult stage play by Philip Ridley. It premiered at the Soho Theatre in London, England, on 3rd May 2007.^[1] The play was commissioned and directed by Lisa Goldman after being greatly impressed by Ridley's previous adult stage play Mercury Fur.^[2] The production was Lisa Goldman's first in her tenure as artistic director of the Soho Theatre.^[3] Like Mercury Fur the play starred Ben Whishaw in its premiere production.

It is the second entry in Ridley's unofficially titled "Brothers Trilogy", having been preceded by Mercury Fur and followed by Piranha Heights.^[4]^[5]

Story

The play is about two brothers, Steven who is the head of a successful graffiti removal company and Barry his younger brother who works for him since he is struggling to get income and recognition from being an artist.

The story concerns the silence which has prevailed over a traumatic incident from their childhood which for years they have been unwilling to talk about and come to terms with.

Structure

Leaves of Glass was the first of Ridley's plays for adults that completely rejects Aristotle's unities of drama, with the story instead taking place in a variety of locations and spanning many months. It has seventeen scenes and no interval with the play lasting approximately two hours in performance.

Although two of Ridley's previous plays The Fastest Clock in the Universe and Ghost from a Perfect Place each had two acts with a space for an interval, each act retained the same location with a very small time gap between each.

Notable productions

Premiere

3 May 2007 at The Soho Theatre, London. Directed by Lisa Goldman.

Steven - Ben Whishaw
Barry - Trystan Gravelle
Debbie - Maxine Peake
Liz - Ruth Sheen

American Premiere

18 January 2009 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, New York.

Steven - Victor Villar-Hauser
Barry - Euan Morton
Debbie - Xanthe Elbrick
Liz - Alexa Kelly

References

External links

Audio interview for Theatre VOICE of Philip Ridley talking about Leaves of Glass

Theatrical Works of Philip Ridley

Adult Stage Plays	The Pitchfork Disney (1991) The Fastest Clock in the Universe (1992) Ghost from a Perfect Place (1994) Vincent River (2000) Mercury Fur (2005) Leaves of Glass (2007) Piranha Heights (2008) Tender Napalm (2011) Shivered (2012) Dark Vanilla Jungle (2013) Radiant Vermin (2015) Tonight with Donny Stixx (2015) Karagula (2016)

Plays for Young People (The Storyteller Sequence)	Sparkleshark (1997) Fairytaleheart (1998) Brokenville (2000) Moonfleece (2004) Karamazoo (2004)

Plays for the Whole Family	Feathers in the Snow (2012)

Plays for Children	Krindlekrax (2002) Daffodil Scissors (2004)

Liberetto	On Such A Day (2007) Tarantula in Petrol Blue (2009)

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