I’m a playwright, screenwriter, script reader and Literary Dramaturg.
I have been a script reader and jury member and provided feedback and dramaturgical services for a number of different companies over the last 10 years including: The Papatango Prize, The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Best Play Awards, Tamasha Theatre, The Bush Theatre, The William Saroyan Playwriting Prize and the ADAA Saroyan/ Paul Human Rights Playwriting Prize.
Some recent highlights
I’m currently script reading for the RSC, as well as the Papatango Prize for the 7th year. I recently reached the top 25% in the inaugural Victoria Wood Playwriting Prize for Comedy and the Quarter Finals in the 2024 Scriptwriters & Co International Festival. In 2023 I was on the National Reading Panel and a Dramaturg for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 37 Plays Project and on the Jury for the Writers Guild of Great Britain Best Play Awards. In 2022, I reached the top 20% in the Verity Bargate Award and the top 26% in the BBC Studios Writers’ Academy; in 2021 I was commissioned by Nottingham Playhouse for their digital drama project “Still Life” with my short film “Handle with Care” and commissioned by Audible UK for an audio drama series pilot episode. I was also awarded an Arts Council DYCP Award and was selected for the School of High Tide programme as a playwright.
In 2020 my short plays “Watching and Waiting” and “The End of Term Show” were commissioned for Live Theatre’s Live Wired digital drama season. My play “Mr Ten per cent” reached the top 3 in Just Some Theatre’s Forward Dialogue Initiative, I was shortlisted for the Capsule Theatre and Film Festival and I was a winner in Stream Lyric Theatre’s Democracy writing competition with my short piece “Hope”.
In 2019 I was long-listed for the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, longlisted for The Clive & Sylvia Richards Writer in Residence position at Pentabus Theatre, shortlisted for the Theatre 503 Five and a winner in the IMIS Out Loud Table Read screenwriting competition.
In 2018 I was shortlisted for the Zealous Emerge Creative Writing Prize, Hightide Theatre’s First Commissions programme and a winner in The Octagon Theatre’s Best of Bolton. I was selected as one of the Tamasha Theatre Playwrights 2017/18 and had my work published in Oberon’s “Hear Me Now”, Audition monologues for Actors of Colour, and my play “The Only Way”, was shortlisted for The Bread and Roses Playwriting Award 2016/17.
In 2016 I was a finalist in Director’s Cut Theatre’s “Make the Cut” playwriting competition and my short play “The Body” was also a winner of the First Draft Playwriting competition in 2015. I’m also a previous winner of a CRE Race in the Media Award for Best Drama.
My work has been performed at various festivals, online and in theatres including The Vaults, Rich Mix, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Barbican Open Lab, Young Vic, Above The Arts, Blue Elephant Theatre, Talawa Theatre, The Space Arts Centre, Tamasha Theatre, Applecart Arts, Stanley Halls, The Bread and Roses Theatre, The Octagon Theatre, Bernie Grant Arts Centre, RADA Studios, The Bunker Theatre, Live Theatre, Nottingham Playhouse, The Arcola Theatre and Soho Theatre.
Some of the companies I have worked with:
Some reviews of my work
‘Watching and Waiting’- ” 10 Minutes to…Call Home”- Live Theatre, Newcastle
Directed by Becky Morris
“Alakija investigates the injustices of adoption, the lack of identity involved in a life abandoned to the anonymity of multiple care homes. His words dig deep into the void of what could have been—in Nikki’s eyes, what should have been. A life yearning for a family to love her that left her every night: “wondering whether my mum and dad will come and rescue me from the night terrorists.” Helen Brown – British Theatre Guide
“The playwright [Alakija] and actress Paislie Reid capture all the woman’s anger, but also other emotions – pain, sadness, uncertainty – that the character herself might not realise she is feeling.” Gerald Berkowitz – Theatreguide.London
The Empire Strikes Back – Brave New Word Utopia/Dystopia Festival- Arcola Theatre
Directed by Florence Bell
“To laughter from the audience, a points-based system is suggested. “I’m a Cabinet minister!” the white man exclaims. “I know,” replies the black lady, “But what skills do you have?”
Chris Omaweng – London Theatre 1
The Thin Red Line – Hear Me Now Audition Monologues for Actors of Colour
Published by Oberon Books
“The Thin Red Line is a powerful speech in which a police officer is guilt ridden over the handling of disabled protesters.”
Paul T Davies – British Theatre.com
‘Handle with Care’- Still Life – Nottingham Playhouse
Directed by Matthew Xia
“The two white-van men in Handle With Care are an unlikely pair. Conor Glean and Karl Haynes skilfully create an uncomfortable tension as their characters debate whether to help someone seemingly in danger or instead continue their day. The clever script by Olu Alakija elegantly offers up insightful questions about the expendability of the working class, and the personal risks in being socially responsible.”
Mary Pollard– Everything Theatre
“Other films have an equally serious message including Olu Alakija’s Handle With Care that follows two delivery drivers who stop for lunch and find themselves troubled by one of the calls that morning. Played by Conor Glean and Karl Haynes, Luke and Sam are opposites flung together on this one occasion by the absence of Sam’s regular partner. Like Guyler’s piece, these characters seem to have a life beyond the 8-minutes we spend with them and Alakija uses their slightly awkward relationship to construct an interesting debate on the ethics of intervention while exploring the empathetic and generational differences between the men.”
Maryam Philpott– The Reviews Hub
“Olu Alakija gives a shaded account of misogyny from wolf whistle to domestic violence: strongly acted by Conor Glean and Karl Haynes, it is also a neat demonstration of how you might characterise a man by his sandwiches.”
Susannah Clapp– The Guardian
“There are matchingly understated performances from Conor Glean and Karl Haynes in Olu Alakija’s Handle with Care, in which two time-pressed delivery men stop for a lunch break and chew over the signs of domestic abuse they might have witnessed at a drop-off.” Dominic Cavendish, Theatre Critic and Rupert Christiansen– The Telegraph
“Olu Alakija’s Handle with Care follows two delivery drivers on a snatched lunch break, chewing over their everyday exploitation and lives of their customers – among them, a woman whose fear and bruises are too quickly concealed behind a firmly closed front door.” Sam Marlowe– The I-News
‘The End of Term Show’- 5 Plays of Christmas- Live Theatre, Newcastle
Directed by Graeme Thompson
“Alakija’s writing skill is superb and his observational prowess quite extraordinary—he captures the terror of a seven-year-old while at the same time whisking us back to the ‘eighties when it was okay to drag a child off stage by the scruff of the neck, or name your child Charlie Brown after a cartoon character. He conjures and cajoles aspects of the ensuing fateful events in a way that is both comic and poignantly accurate. His evocation of what food allergies meant in the ’80s is quite hilarious.”
Helen Brown – British Theatre Guide
“I loved the fact that the twist depends on an unexpected act of kindness and I’ve enjoyed imagining how the nativity and the characters in it might have turned out if that very same interaction occurred. The writing is funny and pacey and as a fellow survivor of 1980s junior school and veteran of nativity plays I had all the feels for Maxwell’s pain.”
Nicola Owen– Narc Magazine
The End of Term Show – One Festival – Space Arts Centre
Directed by John Fricker
“The most clear-cut comedy of the evening, The End of Term Show is a hilarious, cutting show about childhood embarrassment. It follows Maxwell Martin as he describes, in moment-to-moment detail, the day he became ‘The Boy Who Killed Christmas’. Olu Alakija’s piece is packed with clever, irreverent jokes, and Maxwell is played with manic verve by Anthony Cozens, who almost berates the audience with the story of how he was unjustly maligned for ruining a school nativity play in his childhood. Full of energetic humour and performed with panache, The End of Term Show is a festive treat for the gloomy January season.”
Sam Wells – Theatre Box Blog
“The night’s performances finish with a very funny story about a boy who is accused of killing Christmas. The End of Term Show is short and sweet and allows performer Anthony Cozens to demonstrate his perfect comedic skills.”
Richard Maguire – The Reviews Hub
Flurry- Significant Other Festival – The Pensive Federation-The Vaults
Directed by Sophie Flack
“Olu Alakija’s “Flurry” is an atmospheric problem play mistily wrapped around the murderous conceit that “sometimes the wrong thing is the right thing to do.” AJ Dehany – West End Wilma
“One more thing: I couldn’t help but scribble down a line in this play about the weather. “The wind is howling like an X-Factor contestant.”
Chris Omaweng – London Theatre 1
“Alakija’s language explores actions of violence and remorsefulness well, neatly fitting a lot of information compactly into a short period of time.”
Eda Nacar – I watch Plays and Stuff
“Flurry told the story of three young women returning to the site of an ‘accidental’ murder they were involved in years before. The atmosphere was bone-chilling (courtesy of excellent sound and light design) and the dialog deliberately and effectively sparse.”
Frank McHugh – Arthur’s Seat
“Things pick up with the second piece ‘Flurry’ which is a thriller about college friends reuniting at dead of night for nefarious purposes. This managed to create an eerie atmosphere with the minimal resources available. It is also one of several pieces that feature a Significant Other whose effect is felt in spite of their absence.” Simon Ward – The Peg
Training and Qualifications:
Royal Court Theatre Critical Mass Playwriting Programme.
Bush Theatre Script Reading and Literary Dramaturgy Training.
Papatango Theatre Script Reading and Literary Dramaturgy Training.
School of High Tide Playwrights Programme.
Tamasha Theatre Playwrights Programme.
Tamasha Theatre Script Reading and Literary Dramaturgy Training.
Royal Shakespeare Company 37 Plays Project Script Reading and Literary Dramaturgy Training.
MA Degree in Scriptwriting for Film and Television (Fiction) – Northern School of Film & Television, Leeds Metropolitan University (Now Leeds Beckett University)
Post-Graduate Diploma in Film Studies – NSFTV/LMU
Script Editing and Development for Film & Television Course- Grand Scheme Media/Creative Skillset
Olu-Alakija.com 