Meaning behind the names of the characters

Ridley has explained the meaning behind the characters' names saying that "all the names in the play can be read as kind of like nicknames"^[11] and that the "names are very true for me. You just have to ‘unlock’ them a little bit. So, on the surface of it, the name Cougar Glass may seem a bit...extreme. But ‘Cougar’ is quite clearly a nick-name, a reflection of the character’s predatory sexual nature."^[12] "I doubt whether he was christened ‘Cougar’ […] And actually I wrote the play before ‘Cougar’ was used as kind of as a term for predatory kind of elder women […] I was thinking of it like that but it wasn’t in common parlance [as] the word ‘Cougar’ wasn’t used at that time".^[11] "[With] Cheetah B...well, I think she got it because of her love of fur. Maybe she never actually wore a coat made of cheetah skin, but she could have done. Or perhaps yearned for one. Either way, as the wife of a furrier, the name stuck. […] East London council estates are full of fifteen year old mothers calling their babies ‘Kitten’ and ‘Tinsel’ and ‘Honeysuckle’, so I don’t find it bizarre at all that Sherbet ended up with a name like that at all. And ‘Foxtrot’ – that’s what he uses on the Internet. F for...Foxtrot. So his real name, whatever it might be, begins with ‘F’ and has become Foxtrot. And as for Captain Tock – well, I think that’s the name of his shop."^[12]

Initial reception

For its premiere production The Fastest Clock in the Universe generally received positive reviews for its acting and direction but was met with more varied critical response for its writing.^[5]

Some critics (like with Ridley’s previous drama The Pitchfork Disney) felt that the play was excessively harsh and gruesome. The Times’s critic Benedict Nightingale wrote that "To say that Philip Ridley has a bilious imagination is to understate the intensity of the affliction. A sickbag should be kept in the wings, ready to catch the ugly imagery his characters sporadically throw up."^[16] Writing for The Independent, Rhoda Koenig commented that the play’s "explicit descriptions of animal torture transgress the limits of the bearable" and that the play’s climax was "shocking without being moving".^[17] Sunday Times’s critic John Peter wrote that The Fastest Clock was "a sadistic and boring little play which should never have been put on."^[18]

Many critics compared Fastest Clock to the plays of Joe Orton and Harold Pinter (especially The Birthday Party).^[5] These comparisons were not always favourable: John Peter described the play’s writing as "flashy and erratic: people's vocabularies keep getting out of synch with who they are, but without either the impudent panache of Orton or the psychological insight of Pinter. But really, it seems cruel even to mention such names."^[18] Whilst acknowledging the similarities between Fastest Clock and works by other writers, some critics felt that Ridley’s script had unique qualities that made it stand on its own merits. Despite feeling that the writing had a "lack of Orton's delicacy", Rhoda Koenig wrote that "the play owes a lot to Joe Orton, but [Ridley] has plenty of talent of his own in the bank."^[17] Similarly, The Guardian critic Michael Billington wrote that the play has "a whiff of Orton, a touch of Hackney baroque but the voice that emerges is Mr Ridley's unnerving own".^[19]

Various critics felt that the play lacked enough realism. David Murray for The Financial Times wrote that "[The actors] all give the play a grounding in a plausible East End reality which Ridley's text barely suggests, dreamily abstract as it often is."^[20] This was particularly noted by critics in regards to the characters’ names, with Benedict Nightingale writing that "the preposterous names… have the predictable effect of subverting the author's attempts to be serious"^[16] and John Gross of The Sunday Telegraph writing that "When you know the names of the characters… you know the wors[t] thing about [the play]".^[21] However, some critics felt that the play was at once heightened and grounded, with Benedict Nightingale describing the production as being on the "cusp between cartoon and reality"^[16] and Kate Kellaway writing in The Observer that "[Ridley] has an astonishingly cool, brazen way of drawing attention to improbability while at the same time – against the odds – preserving a sense of reality."^[22]

The play was also criticised for lacking depth, with What’s On saying that "there’s no mistaking the [play has the] lightness of insight of a Hammer horror. If still waters run deep, this is all surface ripple."^[23] Although generally enthusiastic about the play, Kate Kellaway wrote that "The problem – for me – about this expertly directed, superbly acted, finely written play is simply its subject. It doesn't go deep because it's obsessed with surface; it's hollow and vain because it's about vanity and emptiness – and it's unforgiving."^[22]

Despite these criticisms Ridley’s writing drew praise from various critics. Michael Billington declared that "The Fastest Clock in The Universe is much the best new play Hampstead Theatre has discovered in a long while… A play of such talented oddness."^[19] Kate Kellaway wrote that "You scarcely notice time pass at Hampstead Theatre… Philip Ridley is a marvellous writer… His talents are perfectly suited to the theatre. The form of The Fastest Clock in the Universe is admirable; Ridley has an exact sense of timing; there is no slack writing."^[22] Rhoda Koenig commented that "Ridley expertly conveys the humour and tension of this wretched gathering",^[17] with similar praise coming from John Gross "there can be no denying [Ridley’s] comic gift"^[21] and Time Out’s James Christopher "Ridley displays a masterful handling of psychological tension… Nasty gripping stuff."^[24] Despite feeling that the play "is not quite as special as Pitchfork Disney" Ian Herbert of Theatre Record wrote that "it shows Ridley to be more than a one-hit wonder, a distinctive, disturbing voice that effortlessly mixes guignol and gags. It is a pleasure to spend time in Mr Ridley's weird world."^[25]

Although feeling that the play "at once rivets and disappoints" Ian Shuttleworth in his review for City Limits recognised that the play could grow to be an influential work, writing that the play was "Worth investigating, but less for the spasmodic glitter of the play itself than for the continuing intimations of what may well be to come."^[26]

Legacy

Despite the varied critical reviews the play won multiple awards: Ridley was made recipient of both the Evening Standard and the Critics' Circle awards for 'most promising playwright'.^[27][28] The play was one of the winners of the 7th annual Time Out fringe awards.^[29] Ridley also received The Meyer-Whitworth Award,^[30] for which the playwright David Hare in his introduction at the prize giving ceremony described the play as "an absorbing, very funny play which shows great promise of a fast developing new stage writing talent".^[31]

The director Sam Mendes cited the play as being among his favourite theatre productions he had seen in 1992, saying that "I thought Philip Ridley's The Fastest Clock in the Universe… was outstanding".^[32]

An extract from the play was featured in the book Live 3: Critical Mass, which was published in 1996. The book is a compilation of extracts from various plays, "bringing together a wide variety of contemporary theatre texts by some of the emerging authors who are helping to reshape the nature of British theatre."^[33]

The Fastest Clock in the Universe (along with Ridley's other plays in his so-called "East End Gothic Trilogy") grew in reputation years after its initial premiere as an important work in the development of in-yer-face theatre.

In 2009 The Hampstead Theatre revived the play as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations where it was advertised as being "now regarded as a contemporary classic".^[34] In his review of the revival, Metro critic Robert Shore wrote "It was Philip Ridley who, perhaps more than any other playwright, launched the visceral 1990s in-yer-face theatre movement, and it was this award-winning play, written in his signature 'barbaric beauty' style and premiered at Hampstead in 1992, that got the ball rolling."^[35]

The play was featured in a list of 100 of the "best and most influential plays"^[36] performed in Britain from 1945 - 2010 in the book Played in Britain: Modern Theatre in 100 Plays.^[37] The book was written by Kate Dorney and Frances Gray in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum and was also made into an iPad app that was released in 2012. Both featured a short examination of The Fastest Clock in the Universe along with photographs of the play's premiere production.^[38]

The 2013 revival of the play at The Old Red Lion Theatre was filmed for the V&A's National Video Archive of Performance.^[39][40]