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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 211-240 of 568 items.
The Golden Rules of Acting

The Golden Rules of Acting

By Andy Nyman

A treasure trove of advice, support and encouragement that no performer should be without. Honest, witty and direct, The Golden Rules of Acting is every actor's best friend – in handy paperback form.

A Good Night Out

A Good Night Out

Popular Theatre: Audience, Class and Form

By John McGrath

The classic manifesto on popular theatre by the founder of the 7:84 Theatre Companies.

Goodbye to All That

Goodbye to All That

By Luke Norris

A taut and tender debut play that asks if it's ever too late to start again.

Great Expectations

Great Expectations (RSC stage version)

By Charles Dickens Adapted by Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod

A gritty adaptation of Dickens' least sentimental love story with a cast of some of his most unforgettable characters.

Grotty & Brute: Two Plays

Grotty & Brute: Two Plays

By Izzy Tennyson

Two unflinching plays from exciting new writer and performer, Izzy Tennyson.

The Ground On Which I Stand

The Ground On Which I Stand

By August Wilson

A passionate and controversial call for black cultural separatism, from the author of the Olivier award-winning Jitney and the Pulitzer Prize-winning King Hedley II.

  • Paperback£6.99 £5.59
    There is limited availability of this title. Please enquire before placing your order.
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.

Happy Now?

Happy Now?

By Lucinda Coxon

A painfully truthful, darkly comic take on contemporary life and how to survive it.

  • Paperback£8.99 £7.19
    There is limited availability of this title. Please enquire before placing your order.
  • Ebook£8.99 £7.19
    Add to basket
A Hard Rain

A Hard Rain

By Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper

A play about what happens when you push things underground, set in New York 1969 in the sweltering few days before the eruption of the Stonewall riots.

Harlequinade & All On Her Own

Harlequinade & All On Her Own

By Terence Rattigan

A double bill by Terence Rattigan, featuring two plays of striking contrast that display his astonishing range as a writer.

The Haunting

The Haunting

By Hugh Janes and Charles Dickens

A spine-chilling play based on several original ghost stories by Charles Dickens.

Hedda Gabler

Hedda Gabler (Abbey Theatre version)

By Henrik Ibsen Adapted by Mark O'Rowe

A fluid yet faithful adaptation of Ibsen's masterpiece.

Hedda Tesman

Hedda Tesman

By Cordelia Lynn Original author Henrik Ibsen

A reworking of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, asking what we inherit, what we endure and how we carry our history.

The Herd

The Herd

By Rory Kinnear

A witty and heartfelt play about a family falling apart – and pulling together – when life doesn't turn out quite the way they imagined.

The Here and This and Now

The Here and This and Now

By Glenn Waldron

A darkly surprising comedy about the pharmaceuticals business, the salaryman and woman, and the quest for happiness.

His Dark Materials

His Dark Materials (stage version)

By Philip Pullman Adapted by Nicholas Wright

A two-play dramatisation of Philip Pullman's extraordinary award-winning fantasy trilogy, first seen at the National Theatre.

The Hoes

The Hoes

By Ifeyinwa Frederick

A riotous celebration of sisterhood, showing that while life may throw up unexpected turbulence, friendships will last the course.

Robert Holman Plays: One

Robert Holman Plays: One

By Robert Holman

Five plays from Robert Holman's first decade of playwriting.

Holy Sh!t

Holy Sh!t

By Alexis Zegerman

An acerbic new comedy about four forty-somethings wrestling for school places for their children.

Home

Home

By Nadia Fall

A powerful, inventive play exploring the issue of homelessness amongst young people.

Homos, or Everyone in America

Homos, or Everyone in America

By Jordan Seavey

A raw and provocative portrait of a love story, exploding attitudes, emotions and prejudices that sit at the heart of relationships across the world.

Honour

Honour

By Joanna Murray-Smith

An unsettling play about infidelity seen from the perspective of the three women involved: the wife, the lover and the daughter.

Hope

Hope

By Jack Thorne

A funny and scathing political fable attacking the squeeze on local government.

House + Amongst the Reeds: two plays

House + Amongst the Reeds: two plays

By Somalia Seaton and Chinonyerem Odimba

Two explosive plays about the need to be seen, commissioned by acclaimed theatre company Clean Break.

  • Paperback£10.99 £8.79
    There is limited availability of this title. Please enquire before placing your order.
  • Ebook£10.99 £8.79
    Add to basket
The House Keeper

The House Keeper

By Morna Regan

A darkly humorous psychological thriller exploring the nature of possession, inheritance and corruption.

The House of Bernarda Alba

The House of Bernarda Alba

By Federico García Lorca Translated by Rona Munro

García Lorca's drama about the shattering effects of emotional repression on a family of cloistered daughters, in a version by playwright Rona Munro for the critically acclaimed Shared Experience Theatre Company.

The House They Grew Up In

The House They Grew Up In

By Deborah Bruce

A tender, dark and funny look at a co-dependent relationship between a brother and a sister, and how they cope when the world bursts in on them.

How Musicals Work

How Musicals Work

And How to Write Your Own

By Julian Woolford

Why do some musicals work, while others just don't? And what should you do if you're thinking of writing your own? Julian Woolford, a successful writer and director of musicals and lecturer in writing musicals at the University of London, explores the musical-theatre canon to answer these and many other questions.

How My Light Is Spent

How My Light Is Spent

By Alan Harris

A funny, hopeful play about loneliness, longing and being left behind. Winner of the Judges' Award in the 2015 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting.