Mercury Fur is a play written by Philip Ridley which premiered in 2005. It is Ridley's fifth adult stage play and premiered at the Plymouth Theatre Royal, before moving to the Menier Chocolate Factory in London.
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.
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 during the previous year had achieved fame and an Olivier Award Nomination for Best Actor for his performance as Hamlet.
The play is particularly noted for being the subject of controversy: Ridley's publisher, Faber and Faber, refused to publish the script and the original production received regular walkouts from audience members along with a generally divided and sometimes hostile response from critics. Over time, Mercury Fur has generally attracted a much more positive reception, with some critics even hailing the play as a "masterpiece".
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, who was murdered in May 2004. According to Ridley, the dedication was not originally made in response to Hall's death as it had been arranged some time prior to when Hall was killed.
Story
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.
Characters
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.
Darren - Aged 16, he is Elliot's brother and assistant. He is addicted to the butterflies which have resulted in him having memory loss.
Naz - A young looking 15-year-old orphan who is a regular customer of Elliot's. He like many of the other characters has severe memory loss through butterfly addiction. He happens across the party by accident and wants to help the gang, much to the dismay of Elliot.
Party Piece - A ten-year-old boy. He is the victim prepared for the Party Guest.
Lola - 19-years-old, Lola is skilled in using make-up and designing costumes, which is utilised for the parties. Lola wears feminine clothing and is physically male in appearance. It is not specified in the play if Lola is a transgender woman or a transvestite man (in the play-text Lola is referred to by the "he" pronoun in the stage directions). In 2015 Ridley was asked at a Q&A why the character of Lola is not portrayed by "a female actor". He responded to this by saying that the reason was because "he's transgender, at that stage of transgender he's a... he's a male. […] He's born male and he identifies as a woman."
Spinx - 21 years old, he is the leader of the gang and Lola's brother. He looks after the Duchess with whom it is suggested he has an intimate relationship with. The rest of the gang are mostly fearful of him.
Duchess - A frail and blind 38-year-old woman. She gets her name from being deceived into thinking that she is a duchess of a country. Her belief in this is maintained through her having to rely on the accounts of others as to her situation due to her blindness. She has also mixed up her life history with the character of Maria from The Sound of Music. It is heavily suggested that she may have a closer connection to Elliot and Darren than it initially appears.
Party Guest - 23 years old. The party revolves around enacting his own violent sexual fantasy against a child.