About Stephen
Stephen Wyatt was born in Beckenham, Kent and brought up in Ealing in West London. He was educated at Latymer Upper School and then went to Clare College, Cambridge.
After graduating, he stayed on to complete a doctoral dissertation, The Victorian Extravaganza 1830-1885, for which he was awarded a Ph.D. While at Cambridge, he directed the 1973 Footlights Revue, Every Packet Carries a Government Health Warning, as well as productions of The Mikado, Handel’s Semele and Verdi’s I Due Foscari. His first full length comedy, Exit, Pursued by a Bear, was produced at the Edinburgh Festival in 1973.
After a brief spell as Lecturer in Drama at Glasgow University, he began his career as a playwright in 1975 as writer/researcher with the Belgrade Coventry Theatre in Education team. In 1982 and 1983 he was Resident Writer with the London Bubble Theatre.
Stephen has worked widely as a freelance playwright in theatre, radio and television ever since. He also has considerable experience as a teacher, workshop leader and script reader and in the creation of audio guides. In 2008, his play, Memorials to the Missing, won the Tinniswood Award for best original radio script of 2007 as well as Silver in the Best Drama category of the 2008 Sony Radio Academy Awards. In 2012 he won the Tinniswood Award again for his play, Gerontius. He spent two years as Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at the University of Sussex and in the autumn of 2011 he took up a post as RLF Writing Fellow on Greenwich University's Maritime campus.
Stephen's work for theatre includes:
- Take Diogenes (QUIPU at the Little Theatre, 1973)
- Exit, Pursued by a Bear (Edinburgh Festival, 1973)
- Come in, Mr Spartacus, your time is up (Scottish Society of Playwrights, Glasgow, 1974)
- After Shave (With Nic Rowley. Apollo Theatre, 1978)
- Monster! (York Theatre Royal, 1978)
- Lullaby for Mrs Bentley (King's Head, 1978 / Theatre Musem, 1992)
- The Witch of Wapping (Half Moon YPT, 1980)
- Glitterballs (Bubble Theatre, 1982)
- The Rogue's Progress (Bubble Theatre, 1983)
- Pick Yourself Up (Bubble Theatre, 1983 / Revivals King's Head 1984 - 1987)
- Dick Whittington (Belgrade, Coventry. With Bob Carlton and Kate Edgar, 1983)
- Brighton Rock (From Greene's novel, Belgrade, Coventry, 1984)
- Aladdin (Belgrade, Coventry. With Carlton and Edgar, 1984)
- Double Standards (Latchmere, 1987)
- R.I.P. Maria Callas (Soho Poly, 1990 / Hen and Chickens, 1992)
- A Working Woman (West Yorkshire Playhouse, 1992)
- The Standard Bearer (Man in the Moon 2001 / Soho Poly 2004)
- The Burglar's Opera (with Jeff Clarke) Opera della Luna, 2005. National tour 2006)
- The Rose and the Ring (with John Cooper) Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, 2006)
- It's my Life (A1 Theatre Productions. York schools tour, 2007)
- Pick Yourself Up (Two act version) (Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch, 2011)
- A Victorian Mikado (Krazy Kat Theatre, 2011)
- The Standard Bearer (Waterloo East Theatre, London / Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre, Los Angeles 2011)
Stephen's work for radio includes:
- Help Stamp Out Quicksand (BBC Radio 4, 1977)
- The Wise Woman of Bayswater (R4, 1980)
- Siren Song (R4, 1986)
- Piglaw (R4, 1989)
- The Organgrinder's Monkey (R4, 1990)
- Memoirs of a Midget (From De La Mare. Classic Serial. R4, 1993)
- Fairest Isle (Radio 3, 1995. Sony Radio Award Winner)
- Dead Souls (From Gogol. Classic Serial. R4, 1995. Writer's Guild Award Shortlist)
- Christmas Eve (From Gogol. R4, 1995)
- The Ladies' Paradise (From Zola. Classic Serial. R4, 1997)
- Net Suicide (Fear on Four. R4, 1997)
- The Speculator (After Balzac. World Service, 1997)
- Sketches by Boz (Adapted from Dickens. Series One: R4, 1998. Series Two: R4, 1999)
- Gray's Elegy (R4, 2000. With Pier Productions)
- Tales the Countess told (R4, 2001)
- Tales from Thackeray (R4, 2001)
- Over the Hills for Soldier, Soldier (Drama documentary. R4, 2002)
- Agnes Beaumont by herself (R4, 2002)
- Party Animal (Friday Play. R4, 2003. Nominated for Peter Tinniswood Award)
- Gilbert without Sullivan (Adapted from W.S.Gilbert. Series One: R4, 2003. Series Two: R4, 2004/5)
- The Blotting Book (From E.F.Benson. Saturday Play, R4, 2003)
- Sour Beer for Soldier, Sailor (Drama documentary. R4, 2003)
- The Old Wives' Tale (From Arnold Bennett. 15 episodes. R4, 2004)
- A Game of Marbles (Afternoon Theatre. R4, 2004)
- Vanity Fair (From Thackeray. 20 episodes. R4, 2004)
- Dr Brighton and Mr Harding (R4 Afternoon Theatre, 2005)
- Oblomov (From Goncharov. R4 Classic Serial, 2005)
- Tinkling the Ivories (R4, 2006)
- Tom Jones (From Fielding. R4 Classic Serial, 2007)
- Memorials to the Missing (R4 Afternoon Theatre, 2007) (Tinniswood Award Winner)
- Ho! Ho! Ho! (R4. "Cribbins at Christmas", 2007)
- Black Narcissus (From Rumer Godden. R4, 2008)
- The Iceman Returneth (R4. "80 Not Out". 2008)
- The Yellowplush Papers (From Thackeray. R4, 2009)
- The Talented Mr Ripley, The Boy who followed Ripley and Ripley Under Water (From Patricia Highsmith. R4, 2009)
- Farewell Symphony (R3, 2009)
- Gerontius (R4, 2010) (Tinniswood Award Winner)
- Double Jeopardy (R4, 2011)
- The Lady in the Lake and Playback (From BBC Classic Raymond Chandler. R4, 2011)
- Strangers on a Film (R4, 2011)
- The Long Goodbye and The Little Sister (From BBC Classic Raymond Chandler. R4, 2011)
- Beware of Pity (From Stefan Zweig. R4, 2011)
List of audio guides:
- The Wernher Collection at the Ranger's House (English Heritage, 2002)
- Elizabeth The First (Greenwich Maritime Museum, 2003)
- The Royal Photographic Society (for the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford, 2003)
- Merchant Adventurers' Hall (York, 2004)
- Netley Abbey, Maiden Castle, Baconsthorpe Castle (English Heritage and Antenna Audio, 2006)
- Titchfield Abbey, Houghton House, De Grey Mausoleum (English Heritage and Antenna Audio, 2007)
- Encompassing The Globe (Beaux Arts Museum, Brussels and Antenna Audio, 2007)
- The Royal Mews (Buckingham Palace and Antenna Audio, 2008)
- Birmingham Town Hall (Antenna Audio, 2008)