Reggie Oliver
Encyclopedia
Reggie Oliver is an English
playwright, biographer and writer of ghost stories.
(Newcastle Scholar, 1970, Oppidan Scholar) and University College, Oxford
(BA Hons 1975), and has been a professional playwright, actor, and theatre director since 1975.
He has worked in radio, television, films, and theatre, both in the West End
and outside London. He was a founding member of the late Sir Anthony Quayle
’s Compass Theatre, and both played the part of Traverse and understudied Sir Anthony in the tour and West End run of The Clandestine Marriage in 1984.
His plays include Imaginary Lines (which was first produced and directed by Alan Ayckbourn
at Scarborough in 1985 and has since been translated into several languages), Absolution (King’s Head, 1983), Back Payments (King’s Head, 1985), Taking Liberties (Wolsey, Ipswich, 1996), Put Some Clothes On, Clarisse! (Duchess Theatre, London, 1989), and Winner Takes All—the last described by Michael Billington
as "the funniest evening in London" when it was revived at the Orange Tree Theatre
in 2000. His play A Portrait of Two Artists was performed on Radio 3 in 1989.
Oliver's biography of his aunt Stella Gibbons
, Out of the Woodshed, was published by Bloomsbury in 1998; and he is a contributor to the historical magazine History Today. He has written about ghost stories for such journals as Supernatural Tales, All Hallows
, Wormwood, and Weirdly Supernatural.
He lives in Suffolk and is married to the artist and actress Joanna Dunham.
magazines as Weird Tales and All Hallows.
In All Hallows 34, Jim Rockhill praised Oliver's The Dreams of Cardinal Vittorini, noting:
Ramsey Campbell
has also written positively about the same work: "Oliver’s sharp eye for character and ear for dialogue never desert him."
His experiences in the worlds of academe, the Church of England
, and the arts have all provided inspiration for his work. A number of his stories are set within the rather seedy end of show business, drawing on his background as a playwright, director and actor. Douglas Campbell wrote of one such story, "The Skins", "I find it hard to believe that there wasn’t some kind of a dare involved when Oliver set out to write a tale about a haunted pantomime horse, but the story itself is an unforgettable piece, drawing to a grotesque and pathetic climax in a horribly plausible world of down-at-heel theatre folk."
He has pastiche
d a number of styles and authors, from Restoration comedy
and sixteenth-century mystical texts to Oscar Wilde
and M. R. James
. A story in Arthur Machen
's style resulted in his winning the Friends of Arthur Machen short story competition in 2005.
Oliver's work has appeared in a number of anthologies, including Acquainted with the Night and Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 19. He has acted as consultant on a project which has seen all of M. R. James's ghost stories released on CD.
In April 2010, Centipede Press published Oliver's collected short stories in a volume which features many new illustrations.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
playwright, biographer and writer of ghost stories.
Life and career
Reggie Oliver was educated at EtonEton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
(Newcastle Scholar, 1970, Oppidan Scholar) and University College, Oxford
University College, Oxford
.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...
(BA Hons 1975), and has been a professional playwright, actor, and theatre director since 1975.
He has worked in radio, television, films, and theatre, both in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
and outside London. He was a founding member of the late Sir Anthony Quayle
Anthony Quayle
Sir John Anthony Quayle, CBE was an English actor and director.-Early life:Quayle was born in Ainsdale, Southport, in Lancashire to a Manx family....
’s Compass Theatre, and both played the part of Traverse and understudied Sir Anthony in the tour and West End run of The Clandestine Marriage in 1984.
His plays include Imaginary Lines (which was first produced and directed by Alan Ayckbourn
Alan Ayckbourn
Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE is a prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their...
at Scarborough in 1985 and has since been translated into several languages), Absolution (King’s Head, 1983), Back Payments (King’s Head, 1985), Taking Liberties (Wolsey, Ipswich, 1996), Put Some Clothes On, Clarisse! (Duchess Theatre, London, 1989), and Winner Takes All—the last described by Michael Billington
Michael Billington (critic)
Michael Keith Billington is a British author and arts critic. Drama critic of The Guardian since October 1971, he is "Britain's longest-serving theatre critic" and the author of biographical and critical studies relating to British theatre and the arts; most notably, he is the authorised...
as "the funniest evening in London" when it was revived at the Orange Tree Theatre
Orange Tree Theatre
The Orange Tree Theatre is a 172-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south west London, built specifically as a theatre in the round....
in 2000. His play A Portrait of Two Artists was performed on Radio 3 in 1989.
Oliver's biography of his aunt Stella Gibbons
Stella Gibbons
Stella Dorothea Gibbons was an English novelist, journalist, poet, and short-story writer.Her first novel, Cold Comfort Farm, won the Femina Vie Heureuse Prize for 1933...
, Out of the Woodshed, was published by Bloomsbury in 1998; and he is a contributor to the historical magazine History Today. He has written about ghost stories for such journals as Supernatural Tales, All Hallows
Ghost Story Society
The Ghost Story Society is a not-for-profit literary society whose members share an interest in supernatural fiction. Founded in Britain in 1988, it currently has an international membership and is administered by joint organizers Christopher Roden and Barbara Roden, owners of Ash-Tree Press, with...
, Wormwood, and Weirdly Supernatural.
He lives in Suffolk and is married to the artist and actress Joanna Dunham.
Horror fiction
Oliver's first horror story appeared in the journal Weirdly Supernatural under the Haunted River imprint. This was followed by Oliver's first two collections, The Dreams of Cardinal Vittorini and The Complete Symphonies of Adolf Hitler, again under the Haunted River imprint. The former was nominated for an International Horror Guild Award and the latter short-listed by the Dracula Society for a Children of the Night award. Both books received favourable notices from reviewers in such small pressSmall press
Small press is a term often used to describe publishers with annual sales below a certain level. Commonly, in the United States, this is set at $50 million, after returns and discounts...
magazines as Weird Tales and All Hallows.
In All Hallows 34, Jim Rockhill praised Oliver's The Dreams of Cardinal Vittorini, noting:
Oliver’s ability to create a sense of time and place in every one of these stories is exemplary.... As a work of spiritual terror it has few peers.... Thomas LigottiThomas LigottiThomas Ligotti is a contemporary American horror author and reclusive literary cult figure. His writings are unique in style, have been noted as major continuations of several literary genres – most prominently Lovecraftian horror – and have overall been variously described as works of...
and Matt Cardin are the only authors writing today who equal the assurance demonstrated by the author of this tale in ripping away the veil separating mundane reality from the shrieking abyss it conceals.
Ramsey Campbell
Ramsey Campbell
John Ramsey Campbell is an English horror fiction author.Since he first came to prominence in the mid-1960s, critics have cited Campbell as one of the leading writers in his field: T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today", while S. T...
has also written positively about the same work: "Oliver’s sharp eye for character and ear for dialogue never desert him."
His experiences in the worlds of academe, the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, and the arts have all provided inspiration for his work. A number of his stories are set within the rather seedy end of show business, drawing on his background as a playwright, director and actor. Douglas Campbell wrote of one such story, "The Skins", "I find it hard to believe that there wasn’t some kind of a dare involved when Oliver set out to write a tale about a haunted pantomime horse, but the story itself is an unforgettable piece, drawing to a grotesque and pathetic climax in a horribly plausible world of down-at-heel theatre folk."
He has pastiche
Pastiche
A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
d a number of styles and authors, from Restoration comedy
Restoration comedy
Restoration comedy refers to English comedies written and performed in the Restoration period from 1660 to 1710. After public stage performances had been banned for 18 years by the Puritan regime, the re-opening of the theatres in 1660 signalled a renaissance of English drama...
and sixteenth-century mystical texts to Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
and M. R. James
M. R. James
Montague Rhodes James, OM, MA, , who used the publication name M. R. James, was an English mediaeval scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge and of Eton College . He is best remembered for his ghost stories, which are regarded as among the best in the genre...
. A story in Arthur Machen
Arthur Machen
Arthur Machen was a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. His novella The Great God Pan has garnered a reputation as a classic of horror...
's style resulted in his winning the Friends of Arthur Machen short story competition in 2005.
Oliver's work has appeared in a number of anthologies, including Acquainted with the Night and Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 19. He has acted as consultant on a project which has seen all of M. R. James's ghost stories released on CD.
In April 2010, Centipede Press published Oliver's collected short stories in a volume which features many new illustrations.
Plays
- Imaginary Lines (Samuel FrenchSamuel FrenchSamuel French was a U.S. entrepreneur who, together with British actor, playwright and theatrical manager Thomas Hailes Lacy, pioneered in the field of theatrical publishing and the licensing of plays....
, 1987) - Put Some Clothes On, Clarisse! (Samuel French, 1990)
- The Music Lovers (Samuel French, 1992)
- Winner Takes All (Samuel French, 2001)
Fiction
- The Dreams of Cardinal Vittorini and Other Strange Stories (Haunted River, 2003)
- The Complete Symphonies of Adolf Hitler (Haunted River, 2005)
- Masques of Satan: Twelve Tales and a Novella (Ash-Tree Press, 2007)
- Madder Mysteries (Ex Occidente Press, 2009)
- Dramas from the Depths (Centipede Press, 2010) (omnibus volume containing all stories from The Dreams of Cardinal Vittorini, The Complete Symphonies of Adolf Hitler, and Masques of Satan, and several stories from Madder Mysteries)
- The Wounds of Exile, novella (Passport Levant 2010)
- The Dracula Papers, novel (Chomu Press 2011)
- Mrs Midnight and Other Stories (Tartarus PressTartarus PressTartarus Press is a small, international award-winning, independent small press run by R.B. Russell and Rosalie Parker. It has two distinct specialities....
, 2011)
Plays Performed
- 1974 ZULEIKA(musical adaptation of Zuleika Dobson, music by Michael Brand) Oxford Playhouse
- 1975 NEW YEAR REVOLUTIONS (Revue) Overground Theatre, Kingston
- 1976 BRITISH BULL (Revue with Jeremy Browne) Overground Theatre, Kingston
- 1978 YOU MIGHT AS WELL LIVE (Half Moon Theatre, Tramshed etc.)RUDE HEALTH (Revue with Jeremy Browne) Overground Theatre, Kingston
- 1984 ABSOLUTION, King’s Head Theatre, Islington
- 1985 IMAGINARY LINES, Stephen Joseph, Scarborough BACK PAYMENTS, King’s Head Theatre, Islington
- 1986 A PORTRAIT OF TWO ARTISTS, Royal Academy etc. Subsequently performed Radio 3 1989
- 1989 PUT SOME CLOTHES ON, CLARISSE!, (Feydeau adaptation) Duchess Theatre, London
- 1991 SUGAR PLUM (Feydeau adaptation) Theatre West Tour
- 1992 SCOOPING THE POT (Feydeau adaptation) Theatre West Tour, subsequently renamed WINNER TAKES ALL and performed Wolsey Ipswich, 1996 Orange Tree Richmond, 2000 etc.
- 1993 THE MUSIC LOVERS (Feydeau adaptation) Numerous amateur & student productions
- 1995 TAKING LIBERTIES (Maupassant adaptation) Wolsey Studio, Ipswich
- 2010 STAGE FRIGHTS, one man show based on his stories (The Cut, Halesworth, Brighton World Horror Conference etc.)
- 2010 ONCE BITTEN (Adapted from Hennequin and Delacour's Le Procés Veauradieux)Orange Tree, Richmond. Dec 2010- Feb 2011
Stories in anthologies
- “The Devil’s Number” in Acquainted with the Night (Ash-Tree Press, 2004)
- “The Silver Cord” in Faunus 12 (FOAM 2005) winner of the Arthur Machen Short Story Prize.
- “Among the Tombs” in Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror 2006 (St Martin’s Press)
- “Mr Poo-Poo” in At Ease with the Dead (Ash-Tree Press, 2007) and Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror 2008 (St Martin’s Press)
- “Mmm Delicious” in Zencore (Megazanthus Press 2007)
- “The Devil’s Funeral” in Shades of Darkness (Ash-Tree Press, 2008)
- “A Donkey at the Mysteries” in Exotic Gothic 2 (Ash-Tree Press, 2008) and The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 20 (Robinson 2009)
- “The Children of Monte Rosa” in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 19 (Robinson 2008)
- “Meeting with Mike”in Exotic Gothic 3 (Ash-Tree Press, 2009)
- “Countess Otho” in Strange Tales 3 (Tartarus 2009)
- “The Head” in The Fourth Black Book of Horror (Mortbury Press 2009)
- “Mrs Midnight” in The Fifth Black Book of Horror (Mortbury Press 2009) and The Best Horror of the Year Vol. 2 (Night Shade Books 2010)
- “Mr Pigsny”in The Sixth Black Book of Horror (Mortbury Press 2010)and The Best Horror of the Year Vol. 3 (Night Shade Books 2011)
- “Puss-Cat” in Tails of Wonder and Imagination (Nightshade Books 2010)
- “The Black Metaphysical” in Cinnabar’s Gnosis (Ex Occidente 2010)
- “Beside the Shrill Sea” in Brighton Shock (PS Publishing 2010)
- "You Have Nothing To Fear" in Null Immortalis (NemonymousNemonymousNemonymous was a short fiction publication that labeled itself a "megazanthus" . It was published in the United Kingdom and edited by British writer D.F...
10, Megazanthus Press 2010) - "The Game of Bear" (completion of an unfinished M.R.James story) The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 21 (Robinson 2010)
- "Minos or Rhadamanthus" in The Seventh Black Book of Horror (Mortbury Press 2010)
- "Singing Blood" in Delicate Toxins (Side Real Press 2011)
- "Flowers of the Sea" in The Horror Anthology of Horror Anthologies (Megazanthus Press 2011)
- "The Philosophy of the Damned" in The Master in Café Morphine (Ex Occidente 2011)
- "Quieta Non Movere" in The Eighth Black Book of Horror (Mortbury Press 2011)
- "Baskerville's Midgets" in Blood and Other Cravings (TOR 2011)
- "A Child's Problem" in A Book of Horror (Jo Fletcher Books 2011)
- "Striding Edge" in Terror Tales of the Lake District (Gray Friar Press 2011)
Criticism
- "Are they all Horrid? Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale and the validity of Gothic Fiction" in 21st Century Gothic - Great Gothic Novels since 2000 (The Scarecrow Press 2011)