BIPOLAR & THE ENGLISH CHANNEL
BIPOLAR & THE ENGLISH CHANNEL is a one-woman off-Broadway show written and starring Julie Ridge. It was originally performed in December 2018 and performed again in October and November 2022.
Summary
September 9th 2022 marks the 40th year anniversary of Ridge's channel swim from England to France. April 11th 2022 marks the 31st anniversary of her bipolar diagnosis.
Act One of BIPOLAR & THE ENGLISH CHANNEL tells the tale of a casual mile-a-day pool lap swimmer who became an English Channel swimmer in nine months and the arduous zig-zag journey across those grey murky seas.
Act Two tells the less glamorous story of a world-record-holding endurance athlete, author, Broadway actor, who wakes up one not-so-fine day floridly manic and locked down on an unforgiving New York City psychiatric ward – and the arduous journey back to sanity. The sum of this one-woman show is how that swim has paralleled her life with bipolar disorder. Dedicated to her late younger sister Sue, who died February 13th 2022, at the age of 62, of COVID-19.
Writer
Producer
The Frank Ridge Memorial Foundation, Inc.
Running Time
120 minutes
