Ridley studied at St Martin's School of Art during the 1980s and regards himself as a contemporary of the Young British Artists (also known as the YBAs). These artists are regarded to have started with Damien Hirst's exhibition "Freeze" in 1988 and have been described by Sierz as "the in-yer-face provocateurs of the art scene 1997 "Sensation" exhibition was an immensely influential example of that 1990s sensibility". Ridley has claimed that he knew "most of the people that went on to be in the controversial "Sensation" show". Although Ridley's early plays were produced years before this exhibition, he states that his plays share the same "sensibility" as "Sensation", particularly in the plays’ use of imagery. Sierz in part attributes Ridley's originality as a playwright from him training at an art school instead of attending a drama school or a theatre's 'new writing programme'. Sierz therefore feels that the history of new writing during the 1990s should not start with The Royal Court Theatre, but "perhaps, more accurately" should look instead at "St Martin’s College of Art and Goldsmiths College. Culturally, there’s clearly a nexus between the YBAs, Cool Britannia and Brit Pop."