UPDATE (12.01, 6/9/13): This competition is now closed. Look out for more Silver Giveaway tickets soon!

We’ve been publishing great scripts alongside their production since 1988, and this year is no exception. So to celebrate our anniversary, we’re teaming up with theatres and producers to offer you a chance to win a pair of tickets to some of the shows we’re involved in, plus a free copy of the playscript.

September's Silver Ticket Giveaway show is:

Blue Stockings by Jessica Swale

Thanks to the folks at Shakespeare's Globe, we’ve got two tickets to give away to the 14:00 matinee performance at the Globe Theatre, London on Saturday 21 September. 

For more information, including how to enter, click here.

He’s the anonymous Twitter sensation whose hilarious and unfailingly accurate barbs satirising and celebrating the theatre industry have won him over 35,000 followers.

His identity is the subject of feverish speculation in the media, fuelled by his regular appearances at West End opening nights in costume, wig and latex mask.

He has become a genuine theatre impresario, launching talent competitions Search for a Twitter Star and its successor, Search for a Twitter Composer.

And now West End Producer (WEP) has written a book, Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Acting (But Were Afraid To Ask, Dear), to be published by Nick Hern Books on 21st November 2013.

(And no, his publishers don’t know his real identity, either. So don’t ask!)

The book is full of the wit and mischievous indiscretion that has gained him such a cult following. It is also packed with gossip and insider knowledge of the theatre business, and enough savvy advice on acting to kickstart a career. For wannabe stars, there are tips (both practical and deliciously impractical) on:

• getting into drama school (learning how to sit in a circle)
• auditioning, and perfecting the neutral vacant stare pose
• rehearsals and learning lines (various infallible methods)
• the different kinds of actor, from sex pest to company idiot
• acting techniques, including how to act in a serious play
• combating boredom (and avoiding backstage naughtiness)
• the correct way to bow at the curtain call

Also included are many of WEP’s most memorable tweets, miniature comic salvos despatched with all the shrewdness of a man who truly knows his Barrowmans from his Balls.

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Acting (But Were Afraid To Ask, Dear) is available to pre-order now, at 25% on our website - click here to do just that. And to whet your appetite, here’s just a handful of WEP’s insightful tweets:

‘Actors – always remember: what happens on tour, goes on Twitter, #dear.’

‘That old saying “there are no small parts, only small actors” is a complete lie. Of course there are small parts. I pay them a lot less, #dear.’

‘Actors – if you ever feel yourself getting an erection when wearing tight lycra, it’s not tight enough, #dear.’

‘Actors – in my experience if you are doing a three-act play, cut the second one, #dear.’

Fleabag, an electrifying, disarmingly honest monologue by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and the tender but heart-wrenching two-hander Halcyon Days by Deirdre Kinahan, have both been awarded Fringe Firsts at the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

A hilariously rude but incisive look at responsibility and sexuality in today’s young people, Fleabag is the debut play by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, actress, writer and Co-Artistic Director of new writing company DryWrite. It has received widespread critical acclaim, with Whatsonstage.com calling it ‘a sharp-edged gem of a solo show’, and Matt Trueman in the Scotsman declaring ‘I’ve never seen a play quite like it.’ Fleabag runs at Underbelly Cowgate until 25 August, before transferring to the Soho Theatre Upstairs in London’s West End in September. Waller-Bridge, who as well as being the author also performs the piece, was recently seen on the London stage in DryWrite's production of Jack Thorne's unflinching domestic drama Mydidae.

Deirdre Kinahan’s Halcyon Days is a poignant drama set in a nursing home in Ireland, where a recently admitted teacher, struggling to adapt to her new surroundings, strikes up a friendship with a retired actor. Produced by Landmark Productions – also the producers of a highly successful revival of Mark O’Rowe’s Howie the Rookie at this year’s Fringe – the play (marketed as These Halcyon Days at the Edinburgh Fringe), which was first staged at the Dublin Theatre Festival 2012, has been warmly received, with The Times describing it as ‘beautifully judged’, and Three Weeks praising it for being ‘heart-warming and tear-jerking in equal measure’.

The scripts to both Fleabag and These Halcyon Days are published by Nick Hern Books, and are available to buy on this site at a 25% discount. To see all other NHB titles currently being performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, as well as across the rest of the UK, visit our On Stage Now page. 

Louise Dearman (Wicked, Guys and Dolls, Evita) and Mark Evans (The Book of Mormon, Ghost, Oklahoma!), two of the biggest musical-theatre stars working today, are asking for their fans’ help to write a new book, The Secrets of Stage Success.

The book, a guide for those who want to follow in Louise and Mark’s footsteps and develop their own careers as performers, will answer questions submitted by the public on a wide range of theatre topics. It will be published by leading theatre publisher Nick Hern Books in 2014.

Questions can be submitted via a dedicated website, www.secretsofstagesuccess.com, until 14 October 2013. They can be about any stage-related topic – whether it’s applying to drama school, nailing auditions, how to overcome stage fright, a specific highlight of Louise and Mark’s careers, or something else entirely. All questions included in the final book will be printed with the asker’s name.

Everyone who submits a question will be entered into a draw to win exciting prizes, including tickets to see Louise and Mark live on stage, and will also receive a special thank-you letter from the authors. For more information about the authors, the book, or how to submit a question, visit www.secretsofstagesuccess.com.

UPDATE: This competition is now closed. Look out for more Silver Giveaway tickets soon!

We’ve been publishing great scripts alongside their production since 1988, and this year is no exception. So to celebrate our anniversary, we’re teaming up with theatres and producers to offer you a chance to win a pair of tickets to some of the shows we’re involved in, plus a free copy of the playscript.

July's Silver Ticket Giveaway show is:

Chimerica by Lucy Kirkwood

A huge sell-out, five-star hit during its original run at the Almeida Theatre earlier this summer, we’ve got two tickets to give away to the West End transfer at the Harold Pinter Theatre, London (restrictions apply). 

For more information, including how to enter, click here.

UPDATE. 20/7/13, 11:00 - THE FREE DOWNLOAD FOR MINT IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE. HOWEVER, THE EBOOK IS NOW OUT, AND CAN BE PURCHASED THROUGH ALL USUAL CHANELLS.

In the spirit of the Royal Court's Open Court festival, we're opening up access to Clare Lizzimore's fantastic debut play Mint, which will be available for a limited period as a free download through our website from today (2 July) until 20 July.

Over 10 years of imprisonment Alan's life has been measured out in weekly visits from his family; slices of the normal life he's left behind. Everything will be so much better once he's finally out and back home for good. Won't it?

A sharp and detailed portrait of a man struggling to keep his head above water, Mint premieres today at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on 2 July, the first play written by talented director Clare Lizzimore (Bull, Crucible Theatre Sheffield; Lay Down Your Cross, Hampstead Theatre). And we're making the script available as a PDF digital download, incorporating changes right up to opening night.

The complete script of Mint is now available for download worldwide, for free, from this website. Click here to find the script - just click the PDF icon, and your download will start automatically.

After 20 July, Mint will join our growing list of paid-for ebooks, and will be available through all the usual channels.

This is the first time in our history we're making a script available in digital form only alongside its original production. We can now make plays available in forms unimaginable when NHB was started 25 years ago - we hope you take up this exciting opportunity to connect with this brilliant debut drama.

Reviews for Mint:

'cumulatively devastating... worthy of Edward Bond' Independent

'impressively perceptive and observant... this portrait of excruciating family tensions rings true' The Arts Desk

'gripping... witty and frequently insightful' British Theatre Guide

UPDATE - 12:05, 28/6/13: THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED. LOOK OUT FOR ANOTHER SILVER TICKET GIVEAWAY SOON.

We’ve been publishing great scripts alongside their production since 1988, and this year is no exception. So to celebrate our anniversary, we’re teaming up with theatres and producers to offer you a chance to win a pair of tickets to some of the shows we’re involved in, plus a free copy of the playscript.

July's Silver Ticket Giveaway show is:

If Only by David Edgar

Thanks to the folks at the Minerva Theatre, we’ve got two tickets to give away to the 14:45 matinee performance at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester on Saturday 20 July. 

For more information, including how to enter, click here.

Lucy Kirkwood’s political thriller Chimerica, currently enjoying a sell-out run at the Almeida Theatre in Islington, will transfer to the Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End, it was announced today (14 June).

A gripping geopolitical examination and engaging personal drama that examines the shifting balance of power between East and West, Chimerica focuses on Joe, an American photojournalist who captured the events in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Twenty-three years later, while in New York to cover the 2012 presidential election, he learns of a cryptic message concerning the unknown hero he photographed, and begins a difficult personal quest to uncover the truth of who he was, and what really happened to him.

A co-production with award-winning touring company Headlong, Chimerica has received widespread critical praise, including five-star reviews from publications such as the Guardian ('gloriously rich, mind-expanding... if we see a better play this year, we'll be extremely lucky'), Telegraph ('hugely entertaining and at times deeply affecting... I cannot recommend it too highly'), Evening Standard ('a tremendously bold piece of writing... topical without being gimmicky and well-informed without being showily so') and Time Out ('like an expansive HBO mini-series expertly compacted into an evening at the theatre... Kirkwood's sharp, incisive dialogue is splendid').

Chimerica is currently playing at the Almeida Theatre, London until 6 July. It will open at the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End on 6 August for an 11-week run, ending on 19 October. It is produced in the West End by Sonia Friedman Productions, Bob Bartner and Norman Tulchin and Jean Doumanian, and directed by Lyndsey Turner.

Like all of Lucy Kirkwood's plays, including Tinderbox (Bush Theatre) and the recent Royal Court hit NSFW (nominated for Best New Comedy at the 2013 Whatsonstage.com Awards), Chimerica is published by Nick Hern Books. It is available in both print and ebook editions.

Dawn King's gripping and unsettling play Foxfinder has been shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize’s inaugural drama award.

A darkly comic exploration of belief, desire and responsibility, Foxfinder centres on William Bloor, a religious but conflicted young ‘foxfinder’ who is sent to Sam and Judith Covey's farm in a strange but familiar England to investigate a suspected contamination. As his enquiries develop, William begins to question his own deeply-held truths, sparking a series of events that will change the course of all their lives - for ever.

Foxfinder was winner of the 2011 Papatango New Writing Competition in partnership with the Finborough Theatre, and premiered at the Finborough, London, in December 2011 to critical acclaim, with Guardian critic Michael Billington declaring it ‘the most compelling new work I have seen this year’. Foxfinder earned Dawn King the Most Promising Playwright prize at the 2012 Off-West End Awards.

Founded in 1919, the James Tait Black Prizes are Britain’s oldest literary awards. Newly established for 2013, the Prizes’ drama award seeks to recognise ‘a play which displays an original voice in theatre and one that…has made a significant and unique contribution to the art form.’

The other works shortlisted for the award are The Effect by Lucy Prebble, In Water I’m Weightless by Kaite O’Reilly, The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning by Tim Price, and The Hundred Flowers Project by Christopher Chen.

The first winner of the £10,000 annual award will be announced in August 2013.

On June 6th, Nick Hern Books will be holding a free panel event and Q&A at the Almeida Theatre, titled 'Having A Play: playwrights on playwriting in the last 25 years'. On the panel will be four NHB-published playwrights:

• Alecky Blythe, whose work includes the recent National Theatre hit, London Road
• Lucy Kirkwood, whose latest play Chimerica premieres at the Almeida Theatre, 17 May-29 June
• Conor McPherson, whose highly acclaimed play The Weir has just been revived at the Donmar Warehouse, prior to his new play The Night Alive premiering at the same venue from 13 June
• Nicholas Wright, is the author of many original plays as well as adaptations, and co-author with Richard Eyre of Changing Stages: A View of British Theatre in the 20th Century

The panel will be chaired by Michael Attenborough, former Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre. The event runs from 5.30pm-6.30pm, Thursday 6 June. Tickets are free but must be booked in advance; visit the Almeida Theatre website or phone the Box Office on 020 7359 4404 to book.

Having A Play forms part of Nick Hern Books' 25th anniversary celebrations. We're running a range of promotions, competitions and events throughout the year, including a 25% discount on all orders through our website, our ongoing Silver Ticket Giveaway, and an upcoming special publication, My First Play: An Anthology of Theatrical Beginnings. Sign up to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter to make sure you don’t miss them!