Oliver Reed: Wild Thing is a one-man show being staged at the St James Theatre in London which tells the story of Reed, who died in Malta while taking part in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator together with Russell Crowe back in 1999.

Set in the Valletta bar where Reed died, the actor’s rise and fall makes for an ‘intoxicating’ one-man show, according to Britain’s Mail online website. Rob Crouch plays the role of the alcoholic Reed.

“Reed’s baritone drawl is carefully measured, the actor releasing barely four words at a time. Add a puffy face, seedy moustache and a shirt-straining belly, and Crouch is quite the gargoyle,” the Mail online said.
“It's easy to condemn Oliver Reed for the squandered talent and drunken antics, but the genius of this one-man show is to make you love him a little bit.

“Reed’s father dismissed him as a dunce who would wind up as an actor or a burglar - only for him to manage both, after being cast as Bill Sykes in the film Oliver!” the Mail online added.

One wonders whether hell-raiser Reed was asked where he would like to die but if one were to guess it would be “during a drinking session in a pub!”

He indeed drank his last drink in the Valletta bar called ‘The Pub’ in Archbishop Street, now proudly known as ‘Ollie’s Last Pub’ with the permission of his relatives.

That fateful day was May 2, 1999 when Reed had reached only 61 years of age, leaving behind him some excellent performances in films like Women in Love, The Devils, The Three Musketeers, Oliver and Castaway.