Veteran theatre director Bill Alexander's book on Shakespeare in the rehearsal room, published by Nick Hern Books, has been shortlisted for the 2024 Theatre Book Prize.

Exploring Shakespeare: A Director's Notes from the Rehearsal Room joins titles by Dame Judi Dench, Michael Ball and Richard Pilbrow in contention for the prestigious prize, which is awarded annually by the Society for Theatre Research to encourage the writing and publication of books on British-related theatre history and practice.

In the book, Alexander takes us inside the rehearsal room to reveal – in unprecedented detail – exactly what happens there. He examines the key relationship between the actors and the director, how they work together to bring Shakespeare's vision to life, and how choices are made that will shape every aspect of the play in production. There are detailed studies of eight plays spanning the full length and breadth of the Shakespearean canon.

The winner will be announced on 11 June at a reception at Sadler's Wells Theatre.

Nick Hern Books playwrights scooped both of the playwriting awards at this year's Critics' Circle Theatre Awards, announced yesterday (25 March 2024) at a ceremony at the new West End venue @sohoplace.

The Best New Play award went to The Motive and the Cue, Jack Thorne's backstage drama about John Gielgud and Richard Burton rehearsing Hamlet in 1964. Thorne's play was premiered at the National Theatre in 2023, directed by Sam Mendes and starring Mark Gatiss as Gielgud and Johnny Flynn as Burton. It picked up the Evening Standard Award for Best New Play, and transferred to the West End's Noel Coward theatre in December 2023, where its run has just come to an end.

The coveted Most Promising Playwright award went to Marcelo Dos Santos for his play Backstairs Billy, which premiered in the West End in a production directed by Michael Grandage and starring Penelope Wilton and Luke Evans. The play is a rip-roaring comedy about the Queen's Mother's fifty-year relationship with her loyal servant Billy Tallon. The award was given jointly to Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini for her play Sleepova at the Bush Theatre.

The Critics' Circle Awards are voted for by the body of UK theatre critics, recognising performances from across the previous calendar year.

Congratulations to all of the award winners!

There were prizes for NHB-published plays at the Offies Awards this week (Sunday 25 February), with no fewer than seven of our plays taking home silverware, two of them in the OffFest Theatre Festival Awards.

James Fritz's The Flea won Best Director for Jay Miller as well as Best Costume Design (by Lambdog1066).

Tom Powell's The Silence and the Noise won Best Online Production.

Lauryn Redding won Best Lead Performance in a Musical for her performance in her own musical, Bloody Elle.

Samuel Barnett won Best Solo Performance in a Play for his performance in Marcelo Dos Santos's Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen.

Sophie Swithinbank's play Bacon won Best Lighting Design (by Ryan Joseph Stafford).

At the OffFest Theatre Festival Awards, Ed Edwards won the New Writing Award for his play England & Son, while Elisabeth Lewerenz won the Vault Festival Award for How We Begin.

Many congratulations to all our winners!

Every year, Nick Hern Books licenses thousands of amateur performances of NHB-published plays, helping amateur groups, schools, youth theatres and others create their own brilliant productions. With over 1,500 titles on our list, there's no shortage of exciting options!

However, there are certain shows that companies are drawn to time and time again – so we've rounded up the plays we licensed the most for amateur performance in 2023. Take a look at the results, over on our blog>>

We're currently looking for a Performing Rights Assistant to join the Nick Hern Books team and be part of facilitating productions of our plays around the world.

Working with our Performing Rights Manager, you’ll play an important role in licensing our list of over 1,000 plays for performance by amateur-theatre companies, schools, youth-theatre groups and others, as well as assisting with the day-to-day operations of the department and covering the Performing Rights Manager's duties from time to time.

This is a permanent, full-time position with a salary of £27,500 pa. Applications are now open until 12 noon GMT on Thursday 18 January – see full information about the role, plus how to apply, on our Jobs Page.

Rob Madge and Michael R. Jackson were prize-winners at the Stage Debut Awards yesterday, 1 October 2023. The awards, in association with Ambassador Theatre Group, celebrate breakthrough talent in theatre.

Rob Madge, the writer-performer of West End sensation My Son's a Queer (But What Can You Do?), was joint winner of the Best Creative West End Debut award for their play, which premiered at London's Turbine Theatre in 2021, took Edinburgh by storm, and then transferred to the West End's Garrick Theatre in October 2022. It returned to the West End for a season at the Ambassador's in January this year.

The joyous and chaotic story of Madge's own childhood, My Son's a Queer (But What Can You Do?) is 'a gorgeous celebration of what it's like to grow up queer' (Whatsonstage).

Michael R. Jackson was named Best Composer, Lyricist or Book Writer for his musical A Strange Loop, which received its British premiere at the Barbican Theatre this year. A blisteringly original musical about a Black, queer writer struggling with a host of demons, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical, and has been described as a 'meta masterpiece' (Guardian) and 'an astonishing tour-de-force' (Whatsonstage).

Congratulations to both winners!