Oliver Emanuel


Oliver Robert Michael Emanuel 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 and John, 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

Theatre

Short stories