Nick Hern Books

Great Plays for Festivals

A selection of our plays available for performance, specially chosen for their suitability for performance at festivals. Most of these plays have a shorter running time, generally 30-60 mins, or can be performed in a shorter version by prior arrangement. For more specific requirements, please contact our Performing Rights Department. Please note that inclusion here does not indicate that rights are available - it is important that you enquire about rights availability before making any commitment.

Showing 97-120 of 190 items.
Lady Dealer

Lady Dealer

By Martha Watson Allpress

A mile-a-minute, one-person poem play about a young female drug dealer, exploring forgiveness, the exhaustion of trying, and mistaking self-destruction for self-preservation. Premiered at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Lava

Lava (2022 edition)

By James Fritz

A timely play about grief and the power of expression, rocking with raw emotion and sharp humour.

Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons

Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons

By Sam Steiner

A play about what we say and how we say it; about the things we can only hear in the silence; about dead cats, activism, eye contact and lemons, lemons, lemons, lemons, lemons.

Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons

Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons (West End edition)

By Sam Steiner

A new, revised edition of Sam Steiner's startling play about what we say, how we say it, and what happens when we can't say anything any more. Published alongside the West End production starring Jenna Coleman and Aidan Turner.

Liberation Squares

Liberation Squares

By Sonali Bhattacharyya

A riotous stage comedy about sisterhood, freedom of speech, and dissent in the face of institutionalised Islamophobia.

Life Raft

Life Raft

By Fin Kennedy Original author Georg Kaiser Contributions by Tassos Stevens

A thrilling large-cast play for young actors exploring the psychology of survival – and an urgent allegory for our times. Plus a series of interactive games specially created by award-winning games designer Tassos Stevens, to facilitate a deeper exploration of the play's themes.

The Light Burns Blue

The Light Burns Blue

By Silva Semerciyan

A play inspired by the true story of the Cottingley Fairies. Part of Platform, a series of big-cast plays with predominantly or all-female casts, written specifically for performance by school, college and youth-theatre groups.

The Lioness

The Lioness

By Rebecca Lenkiewicz

A short play about Elizabeth I: the myth and the reality.

Little Gem

Little Gem

By Elaine Murphy

A poignant and hilarious play about love, sex, birth, death and salsa classes, following three generations of women over one extraordinary year.

Lost

Lost

By Robert Holman

The second play in Robert Holman's acclaimed trilogy of short plays, Making Noise Quietly.

Published in volume Making Noise Quietly: three short plays
    Machinal

    Machinal

    By Sophie Treadwell

    A powerful expressionist drama from the 1920s about the dependent status of women in an increasingly mechanised society, based on the true story of Ruth Snyder.

    Metamorphoses

    Metamorphoses

    By Sami Ibrahim, Laura Lomas and Sabrina Mahfouz Original author Ovid

    An entertaining and provocative new play inspired by Ovid's powerful collection of myths.

    Misterman

    Misterman

    By Enda Walsh

    A virtuosic study of one man's descent into religious mania in small-town Ireland. This edition was published alongside the 2012 production at the National Theatre starring Cillian Murphy.

    Modest

    Modest

    By Ellen Brammar

    A thrilling collision of music hall, cabaret and drag king swagger, in a play that tells the true story of Elizabeth Thompson, a pioneering megastar of the Victorian art scene.

    Mojo Mickybo

    Mojo Mickybo

    By Owen McCafferty

    An unsentimental portrayal of innocence betrayed by communal hatred in Belfast during the 1970s.

    The Motherhood Project

    The Motherhood Project

    Monologues and Reflections on Motherhood

    By Various

    A collection of dramatic monologues and real-life reflections by some of the UK's leading writers, artists and thinkers, and explores all the guilt, joy and absurdity, the regrets, pressures and taboos surrounding motherhood.

    Mr Kolpert

    Mr Kolpert

    By David Gieselmann Translated by David Tushingham

    A delightfully morbid black comedy with a nod to Hitchcock's Rope.

    • Paperback£10.99 £8.79
      There is limited availability of this title. Please enquire before placing your order.
    Mrs Delgado

    Mrs Delgado

    By Mike Bartlett

    A funny and poignant play for one actor that tells a story of desire, control, raised blinds and lowered boundaries. This edition also includes the monologue Phoenix.

    • Paperback£9.99 £7.99
      There is limited availability of this title. Please enquire before placing your order.
    • Ebook£9.99 £7.99
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    The Multiverse is Gay!

    The Multiverse is Gay!

    By Lewis Hetherington

    A wild rollercoaster ride through school, the Multiverse, and finding yourself, over and over and over again… A play in the Nick Hern Books Multiplay Drama series, featuring large-cast plays specifically written to be performed by and appeal to young people.

    My Mother's Funeral: The Show

    My Mother's Funeral: The Show

    By Kelly Jones

    A play exploring the inequalities we face around death, and the cost of turning your loved ones into art. Premiered by Paines Plough in 2024.

    The Nest

    The Nest

    By Franz Xaver Kroetz Translated by Conor McPherson

    A fable about the moral and environmental cost of our materialistic nesting instincts.

    The Night Alive

    The Night Alive

    By Conor McPherson

    An inimitably warm and stylish play that deftly mines the humanity to be found in the most unlikely of situations.

    No Particular Order

    No Particular Order

    By Joel Tan

    A startling and apocalyptic play that charts the fate of a society under a despot, through the lives of bureaucrats, soldiers, ornithologists and tour guides.

    No Romance

    No Romance

    By Nancy Harris

    A tender and funny tale about our secret selves, and our search for connection in a fractured world.