Nick Hern Books

UPDATE, 1pm Friday 19 March – this 40% Off Sale has now finished. Thank you so much to everyone who took part!

Choose from hundreds of top plays and books, and support freelancers affected by the impact of COVID-19


On 16 March 2020, as the COVID pandemic continued to spread across the UK, hundreds of theatres nationwide were forced to shut their doors. At the time, we all thought it would only be for a few weeks – but incredibly, a full year on, these treasured stages are still dark. That was also the day we temporarily shut down the NHB office, as our team switched to working remotely. Twelve months later, those doors remain closed, too.

So as the theatre community prepares to mark this unexpected anniversary, we've ventured back to NHB HQ to raid our shelves and offer you the chance to save 40% on hundreds of great playscripts and theatre books, and raise money for hard-hit theatre-workers and freelancers, in our special Sale.

Due to incredible demand, we've extended the Sale by an extra 24 hours, so it now finishes at 1pm GMT on Friday 19 March. No voucher code is required – just fill your basket with as many of the brilliant titles below as you like, head to checkout, and your discount will be automatically applied. This offer applies to paperback and hardback editions only (ebooks are not included), and all orders over £40 receive free UK delivery.

Plus, £1 from every book sold in our Sale will go to the Theatre Artists Fund, which continues to provide emergency support for theatre-workers and freelancers across the UK affected by the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the theatre sector.

We've put together an incredible selection of almost SIX HUNDRED titles, all currently available at 40% off – choose from famous, award-winning hits; wonderful, lesser-known plays we just know you'll love; brilliant shows that were sadly forced to close due to COVID; books to develop your skills or learn new ones; fascinating reads by leading names, and much more.

Pick up something you always had your eye on at a special price, or try something you've never heard of before – who knows, you might be about to discover your new favourite writer...

Everything included in the Sale has been handpicked from the shelves at NHB HQ, and stock is strictly limited. So if you see something you want, move fast to avoid missing out – because once it's gone, it's gone!

Head to the bottom of this page the entire range – or check out our curated Sale Selections, bringing together books and playscripts on different subjects and themes – and be sure to grab your bargains before our Sale ends on Friday.

It's been a really rough year for everyone connected to theatre, but we've been constantly inspired by the resilience and creativity shown by so many across the community, and with venues starting to announce re-opening plans, there's genuine hope that the lights might come back on soon. So join us to celebrate the art form we all love, and thank you for helping support freelancers at this really difficult time.

Some key info:

  • This Sale runs from 1pm GMT on Tuesday 16 March to 1pm GMT on Friday 19 March only.
  • Only titles listed on this page are available at a 40% discount. This offer applies to the physical editions (paperback, hardback and CD) only; ebooks are not included.
  • Stock of all titles included in the Sale is strictly limited. If your order contains a title that has already sold out, we will get in touch to ask if you would like to: a) swap for an item of the same value, or b) receive a refund for the value of that item.
  • All Sale orders will be dispatched from Monday 22 March. From this point, our standard delivery times will apply – please click here for more information.
  • £1 from every book sold will be donated to the Theatre Artists Fund, which provides emergency support for theatre workers and freelancers across the UK.

With almost six hundred titles included in our Sale, there's a lot to choose from.

So to help you browse through what's available, we've put together fifteen curated selections of playscripts and books on different subjects and themes, and for different readers – each packed with fantastic titles we just know you'll love. Explore tailored lists for actors, backstage practitioners and drama teachers, plays impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic you can still enjoy on the page, plays in translation, adaptations, tie-in and special editions, and more.

Click here to browse the selections – or see below for the entire range of what's available at the 40% discount.
Showing 61-90 of 568 items.
Crossings

Crossings

By Deirdre Kinahan

A play with live music, waltzing and unexpected connections, exploring how we return, resettle and adapt.

Crush: The Musical

Crush: The Musical

By Maureen Chadwick and Kath Gotts

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

Dances of Death

Dances of Death

By Howard Brenton Original author August Strindberg

A gripping new version of Strindberg's masterly, darkly hilarious depiction of the struggles and strains of marriage.

Dara

Dara

By Shahid Nadeem Adapted by Tanya Ronder

An intense domestic drama of global consequence – for India then and for our world now.

Dark Sublime

Dark Sublime

By Michael Dennis

A play about joy and heartbreak, quarries and transmat beams – a love-letter to British sci-fi television.

Daughter

Daughter

By Adam Lazarus

A darkly satirical monologue about fatherhood, love and toxic masculinity.

Dealing with Clair

Dealing with Clair

By Martin Crimp

A satire on yuppie moral and emotional bankruptcy and a bleak, black comedy thriller.

Dear Lupin

Dear Lupin (stage version)

By Roger Mortimer and Charlie Mortimer Adapted by Michael Simkins

Michael Simkins' immensely charming stage adaptation of Dear Lupin, the witty and touching collection of letters from a father to his son that became a huge bestseller, winner of The Sunday Times Humour Book of the Year.

Diane Samuels' Kindertransport

Diane Samuels' Kindertransport

The author's guide to the play

By Diane Samuels

The author's guide to Kindertransport, an invaluable and uniquely authoritative resource for anyone studying, teaching or performing the play.

Drip

Drip

By Tom Wells By (composer) Matthew Robins

A one-man musical comedy about a fifteen-year-old boy who finds himself in deep water when he joins a synchronised swimming team, even though he can't swim.

Dry Powder

Dry Powder

By Sarah Burgess

A razor-sharp comedy about the people who shape – and skew – the economy.

Ecstasy

Ecstasy

By Mike Leigh

A play about loneliness, togetherness, longing, warmth and love.

  • Paperback£9.99 £7.99
    There is limited availability of this title. Please enquire before placing your order.
Egusi Soup

Egusi Soup

By Janice Okoh

A fast and funny family drama about intergenerational and cross-cultural relationships - containing plenty of spicy bits…

the end of history...

the end of history...

By Jack Thorne

A play about families, parenting, and gigantic clashes of values.

Enough

Enough

By Stef Smith

A poetic, unpredictable and explosive play about female friendship, and what happens when you can no longer be the woman people want.

Exiles

Exiles

By James Joyce

James Joyce's only play, a startlingly modern portrait of a marriage.

Eyam

Eyam

By Matt Hartley

A play about an outbreak of the plague in a small Derbyshire village in 1665.

Fibres

Fibres

By Frances Poet

A big-hearted, hilarious drama about what it means to entwine our lives with another, told by four resilient, witty Glaswegian characters.

The Fishermen

The Fishermen (stage version)

By Chigozie Obioma Adapted by Gbolahan Obisesan

A powerful allegory of brotherhood, vengeance and fate set in a small Nigerian town. Adapted from the Man Booker Prize-shortlisted novel.

Fishskin Trousers

Fishskin Trousers

By Elizabeth Kuti

A haunting play about loss and grief, set in the mists of Suffolk. Also contains the short plays Enter A Gentleman and Time Spent on Trains.

For All I Care

For All I Care

By Alan Harris

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

Gambon

Gambon

A Life in Acting

By Mel Gussow

A unique collection of interviews with Sir Michael Gambon, ranging over thirteen years, offering a fascinating picture of this most mischievously evasive of actors.

  • Paperback£9.99 £7.99
    There is limited availability of this title. Please enquire before placing your order.
  • Ebook£8.99 £7.19
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Game

Game

By Mike Bartlett

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

Genesis Inc.

Genesis Inc.

By Jemma Kennedy

An explosively funny comedy that takes a closer look at the lengths to which people will go to defy biology – and at the moral compass of an industry that trades on fear and hope.

Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp.

Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp.

By Caryl Churchill

A girl made of glass. Gods and murders. A serial killer's friends. And a secret in a bottle. Four stories by Caryl Churchill.

Gloria

Gloria

By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

A razor-sharp comic drama about ambition, office warfare and hierarchies, where the only thing that matters is selling out to the highest bidder.

Glory Dazed

Glory Dazed

By Cat Jones

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.

Glory on Earth

Glory on Earth

By Linda McLean

A historical drama about the 18-year-old Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, and the protestant reformer, John Knox.

A Handful of Stars

A Handful of Stars

By Billy Roche

A gripping but warm-spirited snapshot of life in a small southern Irish town.

  • Paperback£9.99 £7.99
    There is limited availability of this title. Please enquire before placing your order.
  • Ebook£9.99 £7.99
    Add to basket
Hanna

Hanna

By Sam Potter

A funny, heartfelt and compelling new play that asks what family means in a modern society, delicately weaving in questions of racial identity, economic privilege, and the lottery of birth.