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.
Follies
Sondheim's landmark musical about a reunion of showgirls, with a book by James Goldman.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79
Freak
A punchy and provocative new play by the Bruntwood Prize-winning author of Yen.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79Ghost Stories (stage version)
By Jeremy Dyson and Andy NymanThe terrifying stageplay and worldwide cult phenomenon about a Professor of Parapsychology whose rationality is tested to breaking point – and beyond.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79Girls Like That
By Evan PlaceyAn urgent and explosive play that explores of the pressures on young people today in the wake of advancing technology.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketA4 Spiral-bound£14.99£11.99Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79Goodbye to All That
By Luke NorrisA taut and tender debut play that asks if it's ever too late to start again.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79Home
By Nadia FallA powerful, inventive play exploring the issue of homelessness amongst young people.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79Homos, or Everyone in America
A raw and provocative portrait of a love story, exploding attitudes, emotions and prejudices that sit at the heart of relationships across the world.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79House + Amongst the Reeds: two plays
By Somalia Seaton and Chinonyerem OdimbaTwo explosive plays about the need to be seen, commissioned by acclaimed theatre company Clean Break.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79There is limited availability of this title. Please enquire before placing your order.Ebook£10.99£8.79The Humans
A powerful comedy-drama about a family gathering at Thanksgiving, from a gifted young American playwright.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79
A Hundred Words for Snow
A play about a teenage girl's solo journey to the North Pole with her father's ashes.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79I Am Shakespeare
By Mark RylanceA fascinating, witty and characteristically exuberant dramatic exploration of the Shakespeare authorship debate.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79I Wanna Be Yours
By Zia AhmedA tender, funny, lyrical debut play about finding love and holding onto it with everything you've got, premiered by Paines Plough and Tamasha.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79Imperium: The Cicero Plays
By Robert Harris Adapted by Mike PoultonA backstage view of Ancient Rome at its most bloody and brutal, adapted by Mike Poulton from Robert Harris's bestselling The Cicero Trilogy.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79An Intervention
A touching, funny play about what happens when you hate your best friend.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79Intimate Apparel
By Lynn NottageLynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel is a multi-award-winning play about the empowerment of Esther, a seamstress in 1905 New York who creates exquisite lingerie for both Fifth Avenue boudoirs and Tenderloin bordellos.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79
Inventing the Truth: Devising and Directing for the Theatre
An invaluable guide to the difficult arts of devising plays and directing texts, by one of the UK’s leading theatre directors.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79Jekyll & Hyde (National Youth Theatre version)
By Evan Placey Original author Robert Louis StevensonA radical re-imagining by playwright Evan Placey of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale, written for the National Youth Theatre.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketA4 Spiral-bound£14.99£11.99Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79Jerusalem
Jez Butterworth's hugely acclaimed, prize-winning play - a comic, contemporary vision of life in England's green and pleasant land.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketA4 Spiral-bound£14.99£11.99Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79Jumpers for Goalposts
By Tom WellsA hilarious and heart-warming comedy about football, friendship and finding your way.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79Junkyard
By Jack ThorneA brilliantly honest and witty coming-of-age drama, with music by Stephen Warbeck.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79There is limited availability of this title. Please enquire before placing your order.Ebook£10.99£8.79Kes (stage version)
By Barry Hines Adapted by Lawrence TillA tried-and-tested stage adaptation of Barry Hines' novel A Kestrel for a Knave, about a troubled young boy who finds and trains a kestrel.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79King Charles III
Mike Bartlett's 'future history play' explores the people beneath the crowns, the unwritten rules of our democracy, and the conscience of Britain's most famous family.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79Lazarus: The Complete Book and Lyrics
By David Bowie and Enda WalshThe extraordinary musical inspired by the book The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis and its cult film adaptation starring David Bowie, and incorporating some of Bowie's most iconic songs.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79Leave Taking
Two generations. Three incredible women. An epic story of what we leave behind in order to find home.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketA4 Spiral-bound£14.99£11.99Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79Let the Right One In (stage version)
By John Ajvide Lindqvist Adapted by Jack ThorneA dark and visceral coming-of-age vampire love story, based on the acclaimed novel and film.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79The Light Burns Blue
A play inspired by the true story of the Cottingley Fairies. 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.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79Little Revolution
An explosive verbatim play about the 2011 London Riots, by the author of the award-winning London Road.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79London Road
By Alecky Blythe and Adam CorkAn experimental and challenging work which reveals the ways in which even the darkest experiences can engender a greater sense of our mutual dependence.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketA4 Spiral-bound£14.99£11.99Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79Love and Information
From one of the UK's most influential playwrights - a fast moving kaleidoscope in which more than a hundred characters try to make sense of what they know.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79Add to basketEbook£10.99£8.79The Mandate
By Nikolai Erdman Adapted by Declan DonnellanA chillingly grotesque farce set in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution.
- Paperback
£10.99£8.79
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