# Oliver Emanuel

Oliver Robert Michael Emanuel (4 April 1980 – 19 December 2023) was a British playwright and radio dramatist.

## Early life and education

Oliver Robert Michael Emanuel was born in Kent on 4 April 1980; his mother was a drama teacher and his father was a solicitor. He attended St Gregory's Catholic Comprehensive School in Tunbridge Wells, studied English and Theatre Studies at University of Leeds, and received an MA from the University of East Anglia.

## Career

Emanuel was Writer-on-Attachment at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 2006 and Writer-in-Residence for BBC Radio 4 Children in Need in 2010. He lived in Glasgow from 2006. He was Reader of Playwriting at the University of St Andrews, an Associate Playwright at Playwrights' Studio Scotland, and Writer-in-Residence at Gladstone's Library.
In addition to his radio and stage plays below, Emanuel wrote two plays for Polmont Young Offenders Institute, Ship of Shadows (October 2009) and John (7 May 2010), and scripted the short film This Way Up.

## Personal life and death

In April 2023, Emanuel was diagnosed with brain cancer, and died from the disease on 19 December 2023, at the age of 43.
Emanuel had two children with Victoria Beesley; he and Beesley married in late 2023, shortly before his death.

## Works
### Radio plays

Radio plays written by Oliver Emanuel :
| Date first broadcast | Play | Director | Cast | Awards | Station Series |
| 11 April 2007 | Joseph and Joseph | Colin Guthrie | Shaun Dooley, Helen Longworth, Christine Kavanagh, Sam Dale, John Dougall, Philippe Smolikowski, Mark Straker and Rachel Bavidge | | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 9 October 2009 | Daniel and Mary | Kirsty Williams | Robin Laing and Natasha Watson | Bronze Sony Award for Best Drama 2010 | BBC Radio Scotland Drama |
| 23 February 2010 | Elvis in Prestwick | Eilidh McCreadie | Read by Laura Fraser | | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Reading |
| 30 October 2010 | The Vanishing dramatisation of Tim Krabbé novel | Kirsty Williams | Samuel West, Melody Grove, Ruth Gemmell, Liam Brennan, Natasha Watson, Claire Knight and Robin Laing | | BBC Radio 4 Saturday Play |
| 17 November 2010 | Everything | Lu Kemp | Natasha Watson, Sandy Grierson and Meg Fraser | | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 12 February 2011 | One Night in Iran | Lu Kemp | Khalid Abdalla and Maryam Hamidi | | BBC Radio 3 The Wire |
| 28 September 2011 | One Hundred and Forty Characters: Songbirds | Kirsteen Cameron | Read by Robin Laing | | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Reading |
| 30 November 2011 | Ancient Greek | Lu Kemp | Alex Austin, Vincent Ebrahim, Sophie Stanton, Caitlin FitzGerald and Austin Moulton | | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 30 June 2012 | Thirteen Minutes in Cairo | Kirsty Williams | Meg Fraser, Simon Tait and Hannah Donaldson | | BBC Radio 4 From Fact to Fiction |
| 13 August 2012 – 17 August 2012 | The Other One | Kirsty Williams | Natasha Watson, Frances Grey, Robin Laing, Meg Fraser and Finlay Welsh | | BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Drama |
| 22 February 2013 | The Spare Room | Lu Kemp | Candida Benson, Babou Ceesay, Hannah Wood and Michael Shelford | | BBC Radio 4 |
| 29 January 2014 | Albion Street | Gaynor Macfarlane | Robin Laing and Meg Fraser | | BBC Radio Scotland Drama |
| 16 January 2015 | Take Me to the Necropolis | Kirsty Williams | Emerald O'Hanrahan, Rebecca Benson, Lewis Binnie, Alison Peebles, Rosalind Sydney and Liam Brennan | | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 23 November 2015 | Blood Sex and Money by Emile Zola: 1.3. Food dramatised by Oliver Emanuel | Kirsty Williams | Glenda Jackson, Jodie McNee, James Anthony Pearson, Jonathan Keeble, Graeme Hawley, Millie Kinsey and Julie Hesmondhalgh | | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 24 November 2015 | Blood Sex and Money by Emile Zola: 1.4. Politics dramatised by Oliver Emanuel | Kirsty Williams | Glenda Jackson, Robert Jack, Laura Dos Santos, Jodie McNee, James Anthony Pearson, Graeme Hawley and Jonathan Keeble | | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 25 November 2015 | Blood Sex and Money by Emile Zola: 1.5. Drink dramatised by Oliver Emanuel | Kirsty Williams | Glenda Jackson, Julie Hesmondhalgh and Mark Holgate | | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 26 January 2016 | A History of Paper | Kirsty Williams | Mark Bonnar and Lucy Gaskell | Shortlisted for Tinniswood Award 2017 | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 7 May 2016 | Blood Sex and Money by Emile Zola: 2.1. Performance dramatised by Oliver Emanuel | Kirsty Williams | Glenda Jackson, Holliday Grainger, Ben Batt, John Catterall, David Crellin, Kimberly Hart-Simpson, Reece Noi and Kate O'Flynn | | BBC Radio 4 Saturday Play |
| 8 May 2016 | Blood Sex and Money by Emile Zola: 2.2. Power dramatised by Oliver Emanuel | Kirsty Williams | Glenda Jackson, Robert Jack, Victoria Beesley, Laurie Brown, Laura Dos Santos, Alasdair Hankinson and Jonathan Keeble | | BBC Radio 4 |
| 28 October 2016 | Blood Sex and Money by Emile Zola: 3.7. Fate dramatised by Oliver Emanuel | Kirsty Williams | Glenda Jackson, Robert Jack, Samuel West, John Bett, Colette O'Neil, Gavi Singh Chera and Sean Graham | BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Adaptation, 2017. | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play |
| 29 January 2017 | Transformations | Kirsty Williams | Read by Shauna Macdonald | | BBC Radio 4 |
| 22 January 2018 – 2 February 2018 | The Truth About Hawaii | Kirsty Williams | Jocelyn Brassington, Christine Bottomley, Roderick Gilkison, Robin Laing, Kevin Mains, Anita Vettesse, Dani Heron and Adura Onashile | BBC Audio Drama Award winner for Best Original Series or Serial, 2019. ISNTD (International Society for Neglected Tropical Diseases) Festival, Best Audio Drama, 2018. | BBC Radio 4 15 Minute Drama |
| 30 September 2018 | (After) Fear | Kirsty Williams | Shauna Macdonald, Meg Fraser, Maryam Hamidi and Robin Laing | | BBC Radio 3 Drama on 3 |
| 11 October 2018 | When The Pips Stop | Kirsty Williams | Shauna Macdonald, Jessica Hardwick, Jakob Jakobsson and Ken Mitchell | Tinniswood Award 2019 winner | BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Drama |

### Theatre

Stage plays written by Oliver Emanuel :
| Date | Title | Director | Cast | Theatre Company | Notes |
| August 2001 – 18 August 2001 | Gemini | | Victoria Glass and Claire Davies | Stage By Stage | |
| 3 August 2003 – 25 August 2003 | Iz | Daniel Bye | Grae Cleugh and Nick Jesper | Silver Tongue Theatre / Pleasance Theatre | |
| June 2004 – | Iz | Daniel Bye | Grae Cleugh and James Gitsham | Silver Tongue Theatre / Tron Theatre, Glasgow | |
| August 2006 – 28 August 2006 | Shiver | Daniel Bye | Kay Bridgeman and Grae Cleugh | Silver Tongue Theatre / Pleasance Courtyard | |
| 28 May 2007 – 7 June 2007 | Shiver | Daniel Bye | Marcia Battise | Theatre 503 | |
| 6 August 2005 – 28 August 2005 | Bella and the Beautiful Knight | Daniel Bye | Grae Cleugh, Sally Kent, Nicholas Cowell | Silver Tongue Theatre / Gilded Balloon Teviot | |
| May 2006 – | Bella and the Beautiful Knight | Daniel Bye | Grae Cleugh, Sally Kent, Nicholas Cowell | Tron Theatre, Glasgow | |
| 19 May 2007 – 8 June 2007 | Magpie Park | Sam Brown | Alison Pargeter and Liam McKenna | West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds | |
| August 2007 – 26 August 2007 | Man Across the Way | Daniel Bye | Grae Cleugh, Nicholas Cowell, John Milroy and Harriette Quarrie | Silver Tongue Theatre and Theatre 503 | |
| April 2008 – 11 April 2008 | The Severed Head of Comrade Bukhari | Daljinder Singh | Arches Theatre, Glasgow | | |
| 16 April 2008 – 19 April 2008 | The Severed Head of Comrade Bukhari | Daljinder Singh | Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh | | |
| June 2008 – | Flit | Alison Peebles | | National Theatre of Scotland | |
| 13 October 2008 – | Videotape | Joe Douglas | Robbie Jack and Sam Young | Òran Mór, Glasgow | |
| March 2011 – | One night in Iran | | Nabil Stuart and Amiera Darwish | Òran Mór, Glasgow | |
| 21 June 2011 | Henry & Ingrid: Some Words For Home | | | Tron Theatre, Glasgow | |
| 2011 – | Spirit of Adventure | | | Dundee Rep / Òran Mór, Glasgow | |
| 2012 – | Random Objects Flying Through The Air | | | Royal Conservatoire of Scotland / Playwrights' Studio, Scotland | |
| 2012 – | End of The World | | | Red Note Ensemble | |
| 2012 – 2013 | Titus | | | Macrobert / Playwrights' Studio, Scotland / Imaginate / Edinburgh Festival Fringe | New English version of Jan Sobrie's text. |
| 2013 – | The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish | Lu Kemp | | National Theatre of Scotland | Adaptation of the book by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean (created by Lu Kemp and Abigail Docherty) |
| 2013 – 2015 | Dragon | | | Vox Motus / National Theatre of Scotland / Tianjin People's Arts Theatre, China | Conceived by Jamie Harrison, Oliver Emanuel and Candice Edmunds |
| 4 December 2014 – 4 January 2015 | The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot | Gareth Nicholls | David Ireland and Alasdair Hankinson | Macrobert The Arches, Glasgow | Co-created with Gareth Nicholls |
| 2014 – | The Adventures of Robin Hood | | | Visible Fictions | |
| 13 May 2015 – | The Lost Things | Ross MacKay | Arran Howie and Alex Bird | Tortoise in a Nutshell | |
| 21 March 2016 – 26 March 2016 | Prom | Gareth Nicholls | Ryan Fletcher, Helen MacKay, Martin McBride and Nicola Roy | A Play, a Pie and a Pint Òran Mór, Glasgow | |
| 29 March 2016 – 6 April 2016 | Prom | Gareth Nicholls | Ryan Fletcher, Helen MacKay, Martin McBride and Nicola Roy | Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh | |
| 24 May 2016 – 11 June 2016 | The 306: Dawn | Laurie Sansom | Scott Gilmour, Josef Davies and Joshua Miles | National Theatre of Scotland, Perth Theatre with funding from 14–18 NOW | Composed by Gareth Williams |
| 5 May 2017 – 3 June 2017 | The 306: Day | Jemima Levick | Dani Heron, Amanda Wilkin, Fletcher Mathers, Wendy Somerville, Angela Hardie and Steven Miller | National Theatre of Scotland, Perth Theatre and Stellar Quines Theatre Company with funding from 14–18 NOW | Composed by Gareth Williams |
| 4 August 2017 – 27 August 2017 | Flight | Jamie Harrison and Candice Edmunds | Nalini Chetty, Farshid Rokey, Emun Elliott, Maryam Hamidi, Robert Jack, Rosalind Sydney, Waleed Akhtar and Adura Odashile Herald Angel Award 2017. | Vox Motus Church Hill Theatre, Edinburgh | Based on the novel Hinterland by Caroline Brothers |
| 29 January 2018 – 30 September 2018 | Flight | Jamie Harrison and Candice Edmunds | Nalini Chetty, Farshid Rokey, Emun Elliott, Maryam Hamidi, Robert Jack, Rosalind Sydney, Waleed Akhtar and Adura Odashile Herald Angel Award 2017. | McKittrick Hotel, New York | Based on the novel Hinterland by Caroline Brothers |
| 5 October 2018 – 21 October 2018 | Flight | Jamie Harrison and Candice Edmunds | Nalini Chetty, Farshid Rokey, Emun Elliott, Maryam Hamidi, Robert Jack, Rosalind Sydney, Waleed Akhtar and Adura Odashile Herald Angel Award 2017. | Melbourne International Arts Festival | Based on the novel Hinterland by Caroline Brothers |
| 4 May 2019 – 23 May 2019 | Flight | Jamie Harrison and Candice Edmunds | Nalini Chetty, Farshid Rokey, Emun Elliott, Maryam Hamidi, Robert Jack, Rosalind Sydney, Waleed Akhtar and Adura Odashile Herald Angel Award 2017. | Brighton Festival | Based on the novel Hinterland by Caroline Brothers |
| 18 January 2020 – 2 February 2020 | Flight | Jamie Harrison and Candice Edmunds | Nalini Chetty, Farshid Rokey, Emun Elliott, Maryam Hamidi, Robert Jack, Rosalind Sydney, Waleed Akhtar and Adura Odashile Herald Angel Award 2017. | ASU Gammage | Based on the novel Hinterland by Caroline Brothers |
| 10 October 2018 – 27 October 2018 | The 306: Dusk | Wils Wilson | Sarah Kameela Impey, Ryan Fletcher and Danny Hughes | National Theatre of Scotland, Perth Theatre with funding from 14–18 NOW | Composed by Gareth Williams |
| 3 October 2019 – 19 October 2019 | The Monstrous Heart | Gareth Nicholls | Charlene Boyd, Christine Entwisle and Tanya Moodie | Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough | |
| 22 October 2019 – 2 November 2019 | The Monstrous Heart | Gareth Nicholls | Charlene Boyd, Christine Entwisle and Tanya Moodie | Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh | |

### Short stories

* Nude

### Other work

* Desperate Run

## Awards

* Daniel and Mary received a Bronze Sony Radio Academy Award for Best Drama in 2010.
* Dragon won Best Show For Children and Young People at the UK Theatre Awards in 2014.
* His version of Titus won the People's Choice Victor Award in 2015 at IPAY.
* A History of Paper was shortlisted for the Tinniswood Award 2017.
* When The Pips Stop won the Tinniswood Award in 2019.
* The Truth About Hawaii won the BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Original Series or Serial in 2019.