Philip Ridley’s Tarantula and The Poltergeist

In a daring new in-rep production, Arcola stages two electrifying monologues by acclaimed British playwright Philip Ridley: Tarantula and The Poltergeist, back-to-back, every night from 11 September - 11 October 2025. Both plays, confronting memory, trauma, and the echoes of the past, return to Arcola following their sold-out, critically acclaimed stage debuts. 

Now these two 'theatrical rollercoasters' have been brought together in repertoire, re-imagined by their original director Wiebke Green - with a new design and new cast - offering an opportunity to explore how Ridley's themes of family, love, memory and East London weave and reverberate through both of these thrilling and darkly comic plays.

The Poltergeist

At 15, Sasha was called an art world prodigy. Celebrities wanted to buy his paintings. His first exhibition was going to make him a superstar.

But now he lives in a run-down flat, with his out-of-work boyfriend, and no one’s even heard of him…What went wrong?

An exhilarating and deeply moving one-man show about art, family, memory, and being haunted by the life we never lived.

'An atom-bomb of a play...earth-shattering.' ★★★★ Broadway World

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Tarantula

It’s a sunny, spring day in East London. On a street corner, two teenagers kiss. One of them is Toni. This is her first kiss.

It makes her very happy.

But someone is watching. Someone who doesn't care about her happiness at all. And they’re about to change Toni’s life… forever.

This one woman play is a startling exploration of identity, memory, love, and the lengths it takes someone to free themselves from the web of their past.

'Theatre at its most powerful.' ★★★★ Theatre Weekly

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Rising star Kemi Awoderu, recently seen in Stranger Things: The First Shadow at The Phoenix Theatre, will lead Tarantula. Louis Davison, known for Vikings: Valhalla on Netflix, takes on the role in The Poltergeist.

Venue details