PLAYWRIGHT, PERIODICALS AND OTHER WRITING
Steve Nallon is an established author with writing credits ranging from novels and short stories to plays and comedy series. He also makes contributions to magazines, periodicals, and books, and gives lectures on a variety of topics to cultural societies and festivals.
As a playwright, Steve co-wrote with Mark Eden the full-length drama PROPS (set at Shepperton Film Studios), which aired on BBC Radio 4 as part of its BBC Saturday Playhouse season. The play later went on to have a successful run on stage at the Jermyn Street Theatre in London. Collaborating with Turan Ali, Steve has written various satirical series for BBC Radio 4, notably THE NALLON TAPES and the political comedy THE GHOST OF NUMBER TEN. He has also worked with the novelist Tom Holt to write the book I, MARGARET, published by Macmillan, and the radio comedy play PRIZEGIVING, broadcast by the BBC. Steve’s comedy writing also includes sketches for the TV series SPITTING IMAGE and comic monologues for BBC television programmes such as NOW SOMETHING ELSE and THE RORY BREMNER SHOW.
Steve has penned three one-man theatre shows based on well-known classic tales. STEVE NALLON’S CHRISTMAS CAROL, a contemporary retelling of the iconic Charles Dickens story, was commissioned by the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. NALLON’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, a re-imagining of Lewis Carroll’s surreal fantasy, won Best Comedy at the Buxton Fringe Festival and went on to have a successful run in Edinburgh. Steve’s comic take on Homer, THE BIG ODYSSEY, had a sell-out UK tour in theatres and art centres ranging from the Shetland Islands and Coleraine to Brighton, Bury St Edmunds, and Alnwick.
In the 1980s, Steve wrote and performed in numerous Edinburgh Fringe shows, including TWO ENGLISHMEN AND A BROAD (with Jeremy Hardy and Kit Hollerbach) and MOUTHING OFF (with Harry Enfield, Bryan Elsley, and Helen Lederer). In the 2000s, I’M NO ANGEL – Steve’s show featuring his creation ‘Lottie Wainwright (Deceased)’ – enjoyed a successful run at the Jermyn Street Theatre. His comedy ‘ghost’ character Lottie went on to have her own ‘afterlife’ in variety shows at theatres, cabaret venues, and art centres around the country, including the Northcott in Exeter, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London, and the Komedia in Bath.
Steve is a regular contributor to the popular magazine CLASSIC MONSTERS OF THE MOVIES. His series of articles on haunted house movies explores the genre’s history, story tropes, themes, settings, and recurring characters, as well as the genre’s cinematic techniques and the art of the jump scare. “As absorbing as it is authoritative ... Trust me, you’ve never seen this particular sub-genre explored to this level.” – Nige Burton, editor of CLASSIC MONSTERS OF THE MOVIES. Steve has also written extensively for magazines such as SCRIPTWRITER (on story craft) and MUSICAL STAGES (on musical theatre history). For THE NEW STATESMAN, he wrote an article looking at the influence of the classic movie THE WIZARD OF OZ on popular culture. In addition to these articles, Steve contributed a chapter on the Broadway musical style for THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MUSIC and a short essay for MEMORIES OF MARGARET THATCHER: A PORTRAIT BY THOSE WHO KNEW HER BEST, edited by Iain Dale and published by Biteback Publishing.
As well as his writing, Steve has been a reviewer for NEW THEATRE QUARTERLY and a panel judge on the POLITICAL BOOK AWARDS in the ‘Satire and Humour’ category.
Steve gives talks and lectures across a range of topics. Some are based on the lectures he wrote during his years as a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Birmingham, while others come from his published writings in books and periodicals. In recent years, his insightful lectures on topics such as film genres, satire, comic theory, and theatre history have proved extremely popular with cultural groups, societies, and festivals. His friendly and relaxed approach makes Steve’s lectures highly engaging, and his use of everyday language rather than academic jargon means his talks are always accessible to a wide audience.
