Most Performed

Our most popular plays for amateur performance, based on the number of licenses issued in 2023.

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 2023, over on our Blog>>

Showing 1-28 of 40 items.

Bleak Expectations

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

After Life

By Jack Thorne Original author Hirokazu Kore-eda

A surreal and powerfully human look at the way we view our lives, and a haunting meditation on what it is to live – and to die.

The IT

A darkly comic state-of-the-nation play exploring adolescent mental health and the rage within. Winner of the Best Play for Young Audiences Award at the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards 2023.

The Good Life

By Jeremy Sams Original author John Esmonde and Bob Larbey

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

Emilia

A riotous, witty reclaiming of the life of Emilia Bassano, poet, mistress, mother, and exceptional woman – widely considered the 'Dark Lady' of Shakespeare's sonnets.

The Ballad of Maria Marten

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

Di and Viv and Rose

A warm and funny play about female friendship, crackling with wit and poignant observation.

Chaos

A symphony of characters searching for meaning in a complicated and unstable world. Part of the 2019 National Theatre Connections Festival.

Bright. Young. Things.

A funny, fast-paced play about identity, truth and the challenge of finding out who you really are. Part of Platform, an initiative from Tonic Theatre in partnership with Nick Hern Books, aimed at achieving greater gender equality in theatre.

The Incident Room

A play about the manhunt for the Yorkshire Ripper, going behind the scenes to investigate the case that nearly broke the British police force.

Nora : A Doll's House

By Stef Smith Original author Henrik Ibsen

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

The Welkin

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

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (stage version)

A brilliant adaptation of Mary Shelley's Gothic masterpiece that places the writer herself amongst the action as she wrestles with her creation and with the stark realities facing revolutionary young women, then and now.

Jekyll & Hyde (National Youth Theatre version)

A radical re-imagining by playwright Evan Placey of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale, written for the National Youth Theatre.

Education, Education, Education

A theatrical love letter to the schools of the 1990s, asking big questions about a country in special measures, exploring what we are taught and why, and where responsibility lies. Full of inventive theatricality and irreverent humour.

Queers: Eight Monologues

By various Created by Mark Gatiss

Queers celebrates a century of evolving social attitudes and political milestones in British gay history, as seen through the eyes of eight individuals.

Consent

A powerful, painful, funny play about the meaning of justice and consent when two friends take opposing briefs in a rape case.

Brainstorm: The Original Playscript

And a Blueprint for Creating Your Own Production

A unique theatrical investigation into how teenagers' brains work, and why they’re designed by evolution to be the way they are.

The Children

Two ageing nuclear scientists in an isolated cottage on the coast, as the world around them crumbles. Then an old friend arrives with a frightening request.

Things I Know To Be True

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.

Philip Pullman's Grimm Tales (stage version)

Adapted by Philip Wilson Original author Philip Pullman

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

Nell Gwynn

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.

Around the World in 80 Days (stage version)

By Laura Eason Original author Jules Verne

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

Wendy & Peter Pan

By Ella Hickson Original author J.M. Barrie

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

Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons

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.

Rules for Living

A theatrically playful, dark comedy about the unwritten rules we follow in our lives.

Jeeves & Wooster in 'Perfect Nonsense'

An inventive, fast-paced comedy based featuring P.G. Wodehouse’s iconic double act.

Blue Stockings

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.

Amateur Productions
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Matt Grinter

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20–27 April 2024
Theatre Workshop Coulsdon

Blake Morrison

Mike Bartlett

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26–27 April 2024
Dubai Drama Group

Amanda Whittington

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13–18 May 2024
Wharf Theatre, Devizes