FULL CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR PHILIP RIDLEY’S
THE PITCHFORK DISNEY AT KING’S HEAD THEATRE
Lidless Theatre, Zoe Weldon and King’s Head Theatre today announce full casting for their new production of Philip Ridley’s seminal work The Pitchfork Disney. Lidless Theatre’s Co-Artistic Director Max Harrison directs Elizabeth Connick as Haley, Ned Costello as Presley (Offie Winner for Lead Performance in a Play), and William Robinson as Cosmo (Ian Charleson Award Finalist and Offie Winner for Lead Performance in a Play).
The production opens on 2 September 2025, with previews from 27 August and runs until 4 October at King’s Head Theatre.
Ridley’s first professional stage play, The Pitchfork Disney,premiered at Bush Theatre on 2 January 1991 and was instrumental in launching the In-Yer-Face theatre movement. A dark and unsettling play, The Pitchfork Disney follows the relationship of two siblings and an encounter they have with an unexpected visitor.
This production marks a continued collaboration between Lidless Theatre and Philip Ridley, following the company’s critically acclaimed stagings of Moonfleece and Tender Napalm.
Max Harrison today said, “I’m totally thrilled to be working with such a talented and dynamic cast and creative team on The Pitchfork Disney. It’s a real privilege to be collaborating again with Philip Ridley and to continue Lidless Theatre’s relationship with one of our greatest living writers, on this era defining play.”
Lidless Theatre, Zoe Weldon and King’s Head Theatre present
THE PITCHFORK DISNEY
By Philip Ridley
27 August – 4 October 2025
Cast: Elizabeth Connick (Haley), Ned Costello (Presley), William Robinson (Cosmo)
Director: Max Harrison; Designer: Kit Hinchcliffe; Lighting Designer: Ben Jacobs;
Sound Designer: Sam Glossop; General Manager: James Quaife;
Production Manager: Carrie Croft
You know why the ghost train is so popular? Because there are no ghosts. Once you’ve learnt that you can make a fortune.
Ten years ago something terrible happened to Presley and Haley. Since then they’ve lived alone in their dead parents’ house, doors bolted against the terrors of the world. But, one night, Presley sees a beautiful stranger on the street outside. And while his sister sleeps…he invites in their worst nightmare.
Darkly comic and deeply unsettling, Philip Ridley’s seminal masterpiece single-handedly changed the course of British drama. Its exploration of ‘a climate of fear’, living in ‘alternate worlds’, and persistent thrum of sexual anxiety has continued to act as a tuning fork for the zeitgeist. It is a play whose relevance is forever in the now.
Philip Ridley’s plays include The Pitchfork Disney (now published as a Methuen Modern Classic), The Fastest Clock in the Universe (winner of a Time Out Award, the Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright, and the Meyer-Whitworth Prize), Ghost from a Perfect Place, Vincent River (nominated for the London Festival Fringe Best Play Award), the highly controversial Mercury Fur, Leaves of Glass, Piranha Heights, Tender Napalm, Shivered, Dark Vanilla Jungle (winner of an Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award), Radiant Vermin (now published as a Methuen Modern Classic), Tonight With Donny Stixx, Karagula, The Beast of Blue Yonder, The Poltergeist, and Tarantula, plus several plays for young people (collectively known as The Storyteller Sequence): Karamazoo, Fairytaleheart, Moonfleece (named as one of the 50 Best Works About Cultural Diversity by the National Centre for Children’s Books), Sparkleshark (the first of the Connections Festival plays for young people to be staged professionally by the National Theatre), and Brokenville; also, Feathers in the Snow (shortlisted for the Brian Way Best Play Award).
Elizabeth Connick plays Haley. Her theatre credits include Gun To Your Head (The Workshop King’s Lynn), Girls with Wings and Trauma (Bush Theatre), Something as Raw as a Funeral (Marylebone Theatre), and The Jew (Kiln Theatre); and for television, Dalgleish.
Ned Costello plays Presley, renewing his collaboration with Lidless Theatre following his role in Leaves of Glass (Park Theatre – Offie Winner for Best Performance in a Play). His further theatre credits include The History Boys (Theatre Royal Bath), Hansel and Gretel (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Clothes They Stood Up In (Nottingham Playhouse), and Britannicus (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre). His television credits include Andor, Grantchester, and Wreck.
Will Robinson plays Cosmo. His theatre credits include Julius Caesar (RSC), Britannicus (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre), Bacon (Finborough Theatre – Offie Winner for Best Performance in a Play), and Romeo and Juliet (Young Shakespeare Company). His television credits include The Silence & the Noise, Masters of the Air, and Cuffs. Robinson was also an Ian Charleson Award Finalist in 2023.
Max Harrison is a freelance theatre director and Co-Artistic Director of Lidless Theatre. His directing credits include Miss Julie, Leaves of Glass (Park Theatre), Tender Napalm (King’s Head Theatre), Vesper Monologues (Arcola Theatre), and In Place of Fear and Moonfleece (Pleasance Theatre). As Associate Director, his credits include Waiting for Godot (Theatre Royal Haymarket), and as Assistant Director, Five Characters in Search of a Good Night’s Sleep (Southwark Playhouse).
LISTINGS
THE PITCHFORK DISNEY
King’s Head Theatre
116p Upper St, London N1 1QP
Box Office: 0207 226 8561 / https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/29/by-philip-ridley-directed-by-max-harrison/the-pitchfork-disney
27 August – 4 October 2025
Tickets from £10