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We're currently inviting applications to license Nick Hern Books plays for amateur online performance.

As we all navigate these unprecedented times, an online performance is the perfect way to bring your members or students together to keep sharing your passion, experience great new plays by today's most exciting writers, and stay active and connected. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting, ever-changing restrictions, means it can be difficult to plan productions with confidence right now – and so online performances can offer certainty and peace of mind, freeing you up to focus on making fantastic theatre. 

Whether you're looking to share a play you've always been passionate about (maybe even getting a former cast together for a revival!), test out a show you've had your eye on for a future, fully staged production, or try something completely different, we're here to support you in making that happen.

Online performance licences are available for both livestreamed performances and broadcasts of recorded productions. If you're able to perform your show to a physically present audience, we can also discuss options to present it online, allowing you to reduce the impact of social distancing on your audience capacity.

For more information on how the whole process works, check out:

We know there's lots to think about at the moment when planning your production – so if you have any further questions, please email our friendly Performing Rights team at rights@nickhernbooks.co.uk.

See below for some suggestions of great plays to consider for online performance. This is just a starting point, however – you can also use the Play Finder on this website to search through our full list of plays by lots of different criteria (genre, cast size, length etc.), or get in touch so we can help find the right show for you. 

Please note that, as usual, you'll need to secure approval and a licence for your production. Just because a play is included in the suggestions list below doesn't mean it's automatically available, and all applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Once you're ready to apply for your performance licence, you can do so here.

We want to say a huge thanks to all of the brilliant authors and agents who've worked hard with us to make these online performances possible. 

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Angel

Inspired by the extraordinary true story of the Angel of Kobane, Angel is part of Henry Naylor's Arabian Nightmares trilogy.

Eggs

A dark comedy about female friendship, fertility and freaking out, by Florence Keith-Roach, 'rising star of the London theatre scene' (Evening Standard).

Flights

A haunting and funny play about bereavement, brotherhood and breaking away from your past.

Red

An unflinching and bold exploration of the internal lives of young women. Part of Platform, an initiative aimed at addressing gender imbalance in theatre.

Fast Labour

A powerful play about the growing culture of human exploitation in the UK, delving below the surface to reveal a personal account of life as a migrant worker.

Chalet Lines

A shockingly funny journey through five decades of birthdays, weddings and hen dos, that asks if we can ever cut the apron strings that tie us to our parents.

Cornermen

An exhilarating play about human triumph, ambition, self-doubt, and pride, set in the world of boxing.

The Distance

A painfully funny play about motherhood (and fatherhood), about keeping control, and about letting go.

Emma (stage version)

A bold, witty and fresh adaptation of Jane Austen's novel which, while thoroughly modern, retains the spirit and much of the language of the original.

For All I Care

A fast-moving, touchingly funny play about two very different women, both having a very bad day.

Game

A provocative play that invites us to spy on a family as they embark on a dangerous new way to live.

Glory Dazed

A moving and darkly comic story of an Afghanistan veteran's search for redemption, and a fascinating insight into the plight of ex-servicemen in modern Britain.

Here I Belong

A moving, funny and charming play that takes you through decades of history seen through the eyes of one village resident.

Love, Lies and Taxidermy

An offbeat love story about Mr Tutti Frutti, a stuffed owl and the struggle to fit in.

My Boy Jack

The tragic story of how Rudyard Kipling sent his son to his death in the First World War.

The Nightingales

A funny, touching and thought-provoking comedy drama about the members of a village choir.

No Naughty Bits

A gloriously funny play about the nature of comedy, the operation of censorship, and the complex misunderstandings implicit in the Anglo-American relationship.

Out of Sorts

A drama about clashing cultural values and the struggle to hold it all together. Winner of the 2018 Theatre503 International Playwriting Award.

Poppy + George

A romantic drama with music inspired by the days of music hall and beyond, from the author of the modern classic Kindertransport.

The Retreat

A comedy about getting away from it all - the debut play from the BAFTA Award-winning co-writer and co-creator of Peep Show, Fresh Meat and Four Lions.

Second Person Narrative

A play about growing up, and forging your own identity. Part of Platform, a series of big-cast plays with predominantly or all-female casts, written specifically for performance by school, college and youth-theatre groups.

Sense and Sensibility (stage version)

By Jane Austen Adapted by Mark Healy

A faithful yet inventive adaptation of Jane Austen's novel, terrifically actable and readable.

Six Characters in Search of an Author (Headlong version)

Pirandello's classic play, updated for the twenty-first century by Headlong.

The Glove Thief

A play about the intersecting lives of four women, and their power to change the course of English history. Part of Platform, an initiative aimed at addressing gender imbalance in theatre.

Crush: The Musical

An outrageously fun musical set in an all-girls school in the 60s, from the team behind Bad Girls: The Musical.

CLASS

Funny, heartbreaking and beautifully observed, CLASS is an award-winning play about learning difficulties: in school, in life, wherever.

Heavy Weather

A powerful, timely play featuring songs, about one girl taking control of her destiny in a world teetering on the brink. Part of Platform, an initiative aimed at achieving greater gender equality in theatre.

100

A strikingly original play combining traditional storytelling with physical theatre, created by The Imaginary Body. Winner of a Fringe First Award at the 2002 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.