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>>
Wendy & Peter Pan
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 2-4mLucy Kirkwood's play about a woman sentenced to hang for murder in 18th-century rural Suffolk.
The Weir
1f 4mThe spellbinding, beautifully observed hit from the master of suspenseful realism.
Treasure Island (Le Navet Bete stage version)
4m doubling (or a mixed cast playing 26 characters)A rip-roaring, swashbuckling, family-friendly retelling of a classic story.
The Thrill of Love
4-5f 1mA gripping drama about Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain.
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.
The Sweet Science of Bruising
6f 4m doubling (up to 7f 8m)An epic tale of passion, politics and pugilism in the world of 19th-century women’s boxing.
The Railway Children (stage version)
By E. Nesbit Adapted by Mike Kenny5f 6m, doubling (6f 9m possible)An imaginative stage adaptation of E. Nesbit's much-loved children's classic.
Pressure
By David Haig1f 12mAn intense real-life thriller centred around the most important weather forecast in the history of warfare.
Philip Pullman's Grimm Tales (stage version)
Adapted by Philip Wilson Original author Philip Pullmanfirst 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.
Notes from a Small Island (stage version)
By Bill Bryson Adapted by Tim Whitnall3f 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.
Nora : A Doll's House
By Stef Smith Original author Henrik Ibsen3-6f 3mA bold new version of Ibsen's brutal portrayal of womanhood.
Nell Gwynn
5-7f 7mJessica 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.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (stage version)
By Mary Shelley and Rona Munro3-6f 4-9m plus 1f/mA 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.
Lilies on the Land
4f doubling (large cast possible)A revealing, funny and wonderfully moving portrait of four women who sign up to join the Women's Land Army during World War II.
Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons
By Sam Steiner1f 1mA 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.
The Last of the Pelican Daughters
5-7f 3mA comedy about four sisters trying to come to terms with their mother's death.
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.
Ladies Unleashed
6-8f plus optional extrasA 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.
Ladies Down Under
4f 2m (doubling, or up to 9m)The funny, heart-warming sequel to the enormously successful Ladies' Day, following the lasses from Hull on their adventures down under.
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Amateur Productions
On Now & Coming SoonBill Bryson, Adapted by Tim WhitnallFin KennedyAmanda WhittingtonAlexandra Wood, Adapted from Kate SummerscaleAmanda WhittingtonHenrik Ibson, Adapted by Richard EyreTom WellsJeremy Sams, Original authors John Esmonde and Bob Larbey