All of us at Nick Hern Books are sorry to learn that legendary theatre director and NHB author Mike Bradwell has died at the age of 77.

Bradwell founded Hull Truck Theatre Company in 1971, and also served as Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre from 1996 until 2007. We're proud to publish his books The Reluctant Escapologist: Adventures in Alternative Theatre (2010, winner of the Theatre Book Prize) and Inventing the Truth: Devising and Directing for the Theatre (2012), as well as many playwrights whose early work Mike directed and championed.

Here, NHB's founder and Publisher, Nick Hern, pays tribute to a true one-off.

'I first met Mike during his tenure of the ‘old’ Bush Theatre. It inhabited a room above a slightly disreputable pub on Shepherd’s Bush Green – Mike was always at loggerheads with the landlord as loud noise from down below would intrude into the tiny theatre. The programme of new plays he masterminded in that magical space was the best in London. He ‘discovered’ a now impressive number of first-time writers, typically including Jack Thorne, Conor McPherson, Chloë Moss, Mark O’Rowe, Charlotte Jones, Joe Penhall and Catherine Johnson, amongst countless others. Mike had a sure eye.

'He and I used to bump into each other on the Goldhawk Road, which was where NHB had moved its office. On one of these occasions, I casually asked what he was doing, hoping to be told of his next discovery so that I could chase down the author and publish the play, as we already had with a large number of ‘Bush plays’. By way of an answer, Mike fixed me with a challenging stare: ‘I’m writing a book.’ And so, after some combative editing sessions, The Reluctant Escapologist was born. I loved that title! It seemed to distil Mike’s whole being into one resonant phrase.

'The launch was scheduled for the ‘new’ Bush with both Mike, the outgoing artistic director, and Josie Rourke, the new one, speaking from the podium. Except that Mike had gone into one of his truculent moods and was threatening not to come, let alone make a speech. But he was persuaded – and the book went on to win the Theatre Book Prize, which was totally unexpected, given that the award was usually for an aspect of theatre history. But then Mike’s life and career were theatre history – and still are.

'Mike was a great bear of a man who attracted intense loyalty from many of the actors he worked with. Despite his imposing size and unkempt appearance, he was capable of the most delicate work. We shall never see his like again.'

NHB plays triumphed again at the Olivier Awards, announced last night (Sunday 6 April 2025) at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Mark Rosenblatt's play Giant, which premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London and transfers this month to the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End, was named Best New Play. Rosenblatt's debut play, it is a thrillingly dark portrait of children's author Roald Dahl, played by John Lithgow - who took the award for Best Actor. Elliot Levey, who plays Tom Maschler, Dahl's British publisher, was named Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

The award for Best Revival went to Robert Icke's Oedipus, which premiered at Wyndham's Theatre in the West End, and also saw Lesley Manville take Best Actress for her performance as Jocasta.

Best Director went to Eline Arbo for The Years, her own adaptation of Annie Ernaux's book, which premiered at the Almeida Theatre in London, and is currently playing at the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End. Romola Garai was named Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in the play.

It represents a clean sweep for Nick Hern Books authors in the main theatre categories, a trick repeated after the recent Critics' Circle Theatre Awards, where Giant took Best New Play and Robert Icke was named Best Director for Oedipus.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Mark Rosenblatt's Giant and Robert Icke's Oedipus were the big winners at this year's Critics' Circle Theatre Awards, revealed yesterday (27 March 2025) at a ceremony at the National Theatre in London.

The Best New Play Award went to Rosenblatt's Giant, a dark portrait of the fiendishly complex icon of children's literature, Roald Dahl, which premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 2024 in a production directed by Nicholas Hytner and starring John Lithgow. Rosenblatt also won the Most Promising Playwright Award for his play, which has had critics and audiences raving, and transfers to the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End from 26 April.

The Best Director Award went to Robert Icke for his own version of Sophocles' Oedipus, which opened at Wyndham's Theatre in the West End last year. The production, which is headed to Broadway, also took the Best Actor and Best Actress Awards for its leads, Mark Strong and Lesley Manville.

Both plays are proudly published by Nick Hern Books.

NHB playwright Joe Ward Munrow has been named the inaugural winner of the Robert Holman Grant Award for professional playwrights from or based in the north of England.

Munrow, who receives a £7,000 award to support his writing, was announced the winner of the prestigious new award given by the Royal Literary Fund. His plays include The Legend of Ned Ludd, which explores issues of work, automation and capitalism around the world, and was premiered at Liverpool Everyman in 2024.

Munrow is from South London but has been based in Liverpool for all of his working life.

The Robert Holman Grant Award was created in honour of the celebrated playwright Robert Holman, who died in December 2021. Holman's plays, including Making Noise Quietly, German Skerries, Jonah and Otto and A Breakfast of Eels, are published by Nick Hern Books.

Author photo: Tony Hay/Royal Literary Fund

We're currently looking for a Publishing and Administrative Assistant to join the Nick Hern Books team to contribute to and provide support for all aspects of our publishing activity.

In this pivotal support role, you’ll have responsibilities and involvement in all areas of our activity – including, but not limited to:

• providing excellent customer service via the phone and email
• processing and arranging delivery of direct-to-customer orders
• drawing up invoices and taking payments
• booking couriers, and handling incoming/outgoing post
• ensuring the smooth running of the office by ordering stationery and supplies, and overseeing our agreements with suppliers

You’ll also collaborate across most departments, such as with:

• our Marketing and Sales teams, by attending industry trade fairs and author events to sell our books, and helping to maintain our website
• our Production department, by helping ensure that new titles progress smoothly from typescript to finished publication (including some proofreading and copy-checking)

This is a permanent, full-time position with a salary of £28,500 pa. Applications are now open until 12 noon GMT on Monday 7 April – see full information about the role, plus how to apply, on our Jobs Page.

The winners of the 2025 Offies (Off-West End Awards) were announced yesterday (17 March 2025) at a star-studded ceremony at Central Hall Westminster. And there were plenty of Nick Hern Books titles amongst them...

Benedict Lombe's intoxicating romance Shifters, which premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, before transferring to the West End, was one of the evening's big winners with awards in the Creation category (writer Benedict Lombe), the Performance category (actors Heather Agyepong and Tosin Cole) and the Sound & Music category (composer XANA).

Manjeet Mann's Run, Rebel, a stage adaptation of her own graphic novel, staged in a touring production by Pilot Theatre, was awarded in the Production category.

David Edgar's Here in America, about a confrontation between two giants of the stage and screen, Arthur Miller and Elia Kazan, won in the Performance category (Faye Castelow for her performance as Molly Kazan). Edgar's play was premiered at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond.

Lanra Malaolu's play Now, I See, a powerful fusion of music, song and text which premiered at Stratford East, London, won in the Design category (lighting designer Ryan Day).

And Sonali Bhattacharyya's King Troll (The Fawn), a dystopian fable exploring the migrant experience that was premiered at New Diorama Theatre, London, was awarded in the Sound & Music category (composer XANA).

Congratulations to all our winners!

The nominations for the 2025 Olivier Awards were announced today (4 March 2025), with plenty of recognition for Nick Hern Books and our authors.

NHB publishes four out of the five plays nominated for Best New Play: Lindsey Ferrentino's death row drama The Fear of 13 (which premiered at the Donmar Warehouse in 2024), Mark Rosenblatt's play about Roald Dahl, Giant (Royal Court Theatre, and coming to the West End in April), Benedict Lombe's powerful romance Shifters (Bush Theatre and West End), and Eline Arbo's adaptation of Annie Ernaux's The Years (Almeida Theatre, and currently at the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End).

Nominated for Best Revival are Sophie Treadwell's Machinal (Old Vic, London) and Robert Icke's Oedipus (Wyndham's Theatre, West End). Robert Icke is himself nominated for Best Director for Oedipus, alongside Eline Arbo for The Years and Nicholas Hytner for Giant.

Amongst the nominations for Best New Production in Affiliate Theatre are Tatty Hennessy's adaptation of George Orwell's Animal Farm (currently at Stratford East before touring to Leeds and Nottingham) and Lanre Malaolu's Now, I See, which premiered at Stratford East in 2024.

Hofesh Shechter is nominated for Best Theatre Choreographer for his work in Ella Hickson's adaptation of Oedipus, currently at the Old Vic in London.

Heather Agyepong is nominated for Best Actress for her performance in Shifters, alongside Lesley Manville in Robert Icke's Oedipus, Rosie Sheehy in Machinal, and Indira Varma in Ella Hickson's Oedipus.

The nominations for Best Actor include Adrien Brody for The Fear of 13, John Lithgow for Giant, and Mark Strong for Robert Icke's Oedipus.

Romola Garai is nominated twice for Best Supporting Actress, for her performances in Giant and in The Years. Gina McKee is also nominated in this category for her performance alongside Garai in The Years, while Elliot Levey is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Giant.

Good luck to all nominees! The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on Sunday 6 April at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The winners of the 2025 WhatsOnStage Awards have been announced, with the Donmar Warehouse and West End production of Shakespeare classic psychological drama Macbeth taking home three prizes including Best Play Revival.

David Tennant also won Best Performer in a Play for his turn in the title role, coming out top from a shortlist which also included co-star Cush Jumbo.

The production also won Best Sound Design for Gareth Fry's bracingly fresh approach, which used binaural sound technology to place the audience inside the minds of the Macbeths. The NHB-published, official tie-in edition of Macbeth contains exclusive behind-the-scenes material exploring how this and other elements of the production were conceived and developed – including through a fascinating rehearsal diary, colour photos, and interviews with its leading cast and creative team.

We're excited to announce that we currently have an opportunity for a Publishing Intern to join Nick Hern Books for six months, starting in March 2025.

As our Publishing Intern, you'll have the opportunity to shadow and learn from members of the team in every department: editorial, production, sales, marketing, rights, finance and customer service.

Some of your tasks will include (but not be limited to) the following:

• Office duties – assisting with customer orders; processing invoices and payments; organising couriers; dealing with incoming and outgoing post; replenishing office supplies, etc.
• Editorial – reading and commenting on submissions; copyediting manuscripts.
• Production – proofreading and checking corrections; preparing files for print.
• Marketing – compiling and proofreading materials such as review quotes, metadata, digital assets, newsletters, etc.
• Sales – generating sales reports; attending events.

If you have demonstrable interest in theatre and a genuine passion for starting a career in theatre and/or publishing, then apply! This opportunity is open to Black, Asian and ethnically diverse candidates, and is part-funded by the Mo Siewcharran Memorial Fund which supports internships for young talent from ethnicities that are under-represented in the theatre, publishing and music industries.

Recruitment for this internship is being administered by Creative Access. See more and apply by 13 January 2025 via the Creative Access website.

The nominees for the 25th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards have been announced, with multiple NHB plays and authors featured across the shortlists.

A fantastic three NHB-published plays are up for the Best New Play award: Giant by Mark Rosenblatt, Princess Essex by Anne Odeke and Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris. Both Giant and Princess Essex also have nods in performing categories, with Romola Garai up for Best Supporting Performer in a Play for her role in Giant, and Anne Odeke – who, in addition to writing Princess Essex, also starred in the title role – shortlisted for Best Performer in a Play.

The most-nominated play at this year's awards is the Max Webster-directed revival of Shakespearean psychological drama Macbeth, which transferred to the Harold Pinter Theatre in London's West End following a hit run at the Donmar Warehouse. The production is up for six prizes: Best Play Revival, a Best Performer in a Play nod each for stars David Tennant and Cush Jumbo, and nominations for Best Sound Design (Gareth Fry), Best Musical Direction/Supervision (Alasdair Macrae), and Best Casting Direction (Anna Cooper).

Also up for Best Play Revival is Robert Icke's visionary new version of Sophocles classic Oedipus, which is currently playing at Wyndham's Theatre, London. This arresting new take, which transforms the epic tragedy into an essential and explosive political thriller, also earns Icke a nomination for Best Director.

Dear Evan Hansen, which is now on a national tour this Autumn following its first, multi-award-winning UK run in London's West End, is shortlisted for Best Musical Revival and Best Regional Production. This new production of the musical by Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul was first seen at Nottingham Playhouse, and is now touring through to July 2025.

Elsewhere, there are two nominations for The Years, adapted for the stage by Eline Arbo and translated into English by Stephanie Bain from the novel by Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux. The production, which transfers to London's West End early next year, is shortlisted for Best Director (Eline Arbo) and Best Casting Direction (Amy Ball). And finally, NHB author Julie Hesmondhalgh is shortlisted for Best Supporting Performer in a Play for her role in Punch by James Graham, which transfers to the Young Vic Theatre, London, from March 2025. 

The WhatsOnStage Awards are the only major theatre awards nominated and voted for by the public. The winners will be announced at a live ceremony on 9 February – you can see the full lists of nominees and vote for the shows you'd like to win here.