Is it possible to connect Transistors in series to increase the voltage handling ability?

Question

e.g. can 5 x 1000volt transistors connected in series switch 5000 volts?

Answer 1

It's possible and it's done but it takes a pretty small deviation from perfection to put higher than planned voltage across one of the transistors, sending it to silicon heaven. The circuit needs to be designed carefully. The gain of each transistor has to perfectly match all the others, and that's a lot harder to achieve in practice than in theory.
They also put transistors in parallell to increase current handling capability.