Oliver Emanuel was an internationally award-winning playwright based in Scotland. We were devastated by his death in December 2023.
He has written over 30 plays for both stage and radio. When The Pips Stop won the Tinniswood Award for Best Radio Drama, 2019. The Truth About Hawaii won Best Series at BBC Audio Drama Awards, 2019. Flight won a Herald Angel at the Edinburgh International Festival 2017 before completing a 3-month run at the McKittrick Hotel, New York, where it was New York Times' Critic's Pick. He was a lead writer on Emile Zola: Blood, Sex & Money for BBC Radio 4 which won Best Adaptation at the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2017. His English language version of Jan Sobrie's Titus won The People's Choice Victor Award at IPAY 2015.
Dragon was the first play for young people to be performed at the Edinburgh International Festival and won Best Show for Children at the UK Theatre Awards in 2014.
Other plays include: The 306 Trilogy (Dawn, Day, Dusk), Prom, A History of Paper, The Adventures of Robin Hood (which has had 7 international productions since it was first produced in 2014), The Lost Things, Spirit of Adventure, Ancient Greek and Videotape. His plays for young people have been seen across Europe, North America and China.
Oliver 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.
His plays are published by Oberon Books.
Work with Imaginate
Oliver was an Accelerator Artist in 2019-2020 and his play I am Tiger premiered at the 2022 Edinburgh International Children's Festival. It went on to win the CATS award for best production for children and young people.