Most Performed

Our most popular plays for amateur performance, based on the number of licences issued in 2024.

The 40 titles listed below were our most popular titles licensed for performance by amateur groups worldwide.

Read more about the Top Ten most performed plays of 2024, over on our Blog>>

Showing 1-20 of 40 items.

Blue Stockings

8-10f 8-14m (plus 2 extras)

A moving, comical and eye-opening story of four young women fighting for education and self-determination against the larger backdrop of women’s suffrage.

The Ballad of Maria Marten

10f 2m (can be performed by 6f doubling)

A thrilling play based on the nineteenth-century Red Barn Murder in Suffolk, rediscovering the lost story of the murder victim, Maria Marten.

Ladies' Day

4f 1m (doubling, or up to 6m)

Work, love and life are just one long, hard slog for the fish-filleting foursome Pearl, Jan, Shelley and Linda. But their fortunes are set to change when Linda finds tickets to Ladies' Day at Royal Ascot the year it relocated to York.

It's a Wonderful Life (stage version)

4 actors, doubling (either 1f 3m or 2f 2m); larger cast possible (13 characters plus extras)

A joyful stage adaptation of Frank Capra's movie about a down-on-his-luck banker who feels like he's at the end of his rope, until his guardian angel pays him a visit.

Nell Gwynn

5-7f 7m

Jessica Swale's play Nell Gwynn charts the rise of an unlikely heroine, from her roots in Coal Yard Alley to her success as Britain’s most celebrated actress, and her hard-won place in the heart of the king.

Things I Know To Be True

3f 3m (wide age range)

A complex and intense portrait of the mechanics of a family – and a marriage – through the eyes of four siblings struggling to define themselves beyond their parents' love and expectations.

Bleak Expectations

3-5f 6-9m plus optional extras

A hilarious, chaotic, Dickensian caper for the stage, based on the award-winning BBC Radio 4 series.

The Railway Children (stage version)

5f 6m, doubling (6f 9m possible)

An imaginative stage adaptation of E. Nesbit's much-loved children's classic.

The Hound of the Baskervilles (stage version - new edition)

3 performers (playing multiple roles)

A revised, definitive version of this riotously funny take on the celebrated Sherlock Holmes story, a firm favourite with theatre companies, both professional and amateur.

Wendy & Peter Pan

By Ella Hickson Original author J.M. Barrie
4f 17m doubling (up to 6f 22m); version for smaller cast also available

A refreshingly modern version of J.M. Barrie's much-loved story that puts the character of Wendy firmly centre stage.

The Welkin

13-16f 2-4m

Lucy Kirkwood's play about a woman sentenced to hang for murder in 18th-century rural Suffolk.

The Good Life

3-6f 3-6m plus 1 goat (real or otherwise)

A witty reimagining of a television classic for the stage, with a wellyful of laughs that's sure to delight audiences everywhere.

Ladies Unleashed

6-8f plus optional extras

A moving comedy for the stage, about friendship, growing older and living for today, reuniting the characters from the smash-hit plays Ladies' Day and Ladies Down Under.

The Thrill of Love

4-5f 1m

A gripping drama about Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain.

Notes from a Small Island (stage version)

3f 4m doubling (playing more than 80 characters; large cast is possible)

 

A stage adaptation of Bill Bryson's smash-hit memoir, one of the nation's most beloved books, and a brilliant dissection of the enduring quirks of our small island.

Philip Pullman's Grimm Tales (stage version)

Adapted by Philip Wilson Original author Philip Pullman
first set: 4f 4m, doubling; second set 8f 8m doubling (entire script offers roles for 42f and 100m)

A deliciously dark version of the Grimm Tales, from master storyteller Philip Pullman.

The Ferryman

8f 13m

Preparations for the annual harvest on a farm in County Armagh in the 1980s are interrupted by a visitor. Winner of the Evening Standard Theatre Award and Tony Award for Best Play, and the Critics' Circle, Olivier and WhatsOnStage Awards for Best New Play.

Around the World in 80 Days (stage version)

By Laura Eason Original author Jules Verne
3f 5m, doubling (very large cast possible)

Laura Eason's celebrated adaptation of Jules Verne's classic novel, a dazzling escapade that packs in more than fifty unforgettable characters.

Nora : A Doll's House

By Stef Smith Original author Henrik Ibsen
3-6f 3m

A bold new version of Ibsen's brutal portrayal of womanhood.

Dracula: The Bloody Truth

4m (playing various roles)

A comic retelling of the story of Dracula, from John Nicholson and Exeter-based theatre company Le Navet Bete.

Amateur Productions
On Now & Coming Soon

Advertise Your Show


Bill Bryson, Adapted by Tim Whitnall

Fin Kennedy

Amanda Whittington

Alexandra Wood, Adapted from Kate Summerscale

Amanda Whittington


Henrik Ibson, Adapted by Richard Eyre

Tom Wells

Jeremy Sams, Original authors John Esmonde and Bob Larbey