Mercury Fur

Mercury Fur
Mercury Fur imagery by Theatre Delicatessen
Written by	Philip Ridley
Characters	6 male, 1 female and 1 transgender female
Date premiered	10th February 2005
Place premiered	Drum Theatre, Plymouth
Original language	English
Subject	Abuse, Addiction, Drugs, Choice, Gang violence, Language, Love, Manipulation, Memory, Psychochemical warfare, Sexual violence, Social disintegration, Storytelling, Survival.
Genre	Apocalyptic fiction, In-yer-face theatre
Setting	"A derelict flat in a derelict estate in the East End of London."

Mercury Fur is a play written by Philip Ridley which premiered in 2005. Set against the backdrop of a dystopian London, the narrative focuses on a party at which the torture and murder of a child is the main entertainment. It is Ridley's fifth adult stage play and premiered at the Plymouth Theatre Royal, moving to the Menier Chocolate Factory in London, in 2005.

The original production was directed by John Tiffany as part of the This Other England season of new writing by Paines Plough and Theatre Royal, Plymouth in England. The part of Elliot was played by Ben Whishaw, who had become famous the previous year as the youngest modern Hamlet in Trevor Nunn's production at the Old Vic Theatre in London.

The play is the first entry in Ridley's unofficially titled "Brothers Trilogy", being followed by Leaves of Glass and Piranha Heights.

Ridley dedicated the play to his agent Rod Hall before he was murdered in May 2004.

Mercury Fur is set in a post-apocalyptic version of London's East End, where gang violence and drugs - in the form of hallucinogenic butterflies - terrorize the community. The protagonists are a gang of youths surviving by their wits. They deal the butterflies, selling them to their addicted customers from locations such as the now burnt-out British Museum. Their main source of income, however, is holding parties for wealthy clients in which their wildest, most amoral fantasies are brought to life.

The play, during nearly two uninterrupted hours, centres on a party which revolves around the sadistic murder of a child, enacted according to the whims of a guest. The gang ultimately has to face the question of how far they are willing to go to save the people they love.

Elliot - Aged 19, he is the main facilitator in preparing the parties as well as being the chief dealer in butterflies which he sells in an ice cream van. He however has only ever taken one, meaning he has retained all his memories from before the butterflies arrived. He hurls a great deal of verbal abuse at Darren but also shows genuine love for him.