Plays, playscripts, drama
Nick Hern Books A Song for Ella Grey
Book Synopsis'I'm the one who's left behind. I'm the one to tell the tale. I knew them both, knew how they lived and how she died.' Ella Grey and her friends are ordinary kids from ordinary families in an ordinary world. They fall in and out of love, play music, stare at the stars, yearn for excitement, and have parties on the beautiful beaches of Northumberland. One day a stranger – a musician called Orpheus – appears on the beach, entrancing them all, but particularly Ella. Where have they come from and what path will Ella follow? A Song for Ella Grey is a version of the myth of Orpheus that sings of the madness of youth, the ache of love, and the near-impossibility of grasping death. Zoe Cooper's stage adaptation of David Almond's award-winning novel was first produced in 2024 by Pilot Theatre, in association with Northern Stage and York Theatre Royal. This edition includes the full text of the play along with a range of teaching materials and resources designed to help educators bring the play to life for their students. Praise for the novel: 'Infused with lyricism and with the fire and oddness of adolescence. Fresh, involving and lucid, it is a song in itself and teens will find it fills them with poignant longing and joy' Telegraph 'The story of Orpheus and Eurydice is retold against a wild Northumbrian landscape: life, death, love and myths. Just wonderful' Bookseller 'Extraordinary' Metro 'Spell-binding… impossible to resist' HeraldTrade Review'Soulful and imaginative... admirably answers the questions posed by David Almond's novel... timeless, fractured and haunting' * Guardian *'A stylish and seductive retelling of the Orpheus myth... Lacing its dreamy mysticism with sharp humour, Zoe Cooper's clever adaptation captures the raw intensity not just of first love, but of all the complex bonds of youth... a refreshing take on a classic that feels both immediate and timeless' * The Stage *
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Standing at the Skys Edge
Book SynopsisChris Bush and Richard Hawley's musical, a history of modern Britain told through the stories of one Sheffield housing estate. Winner of the Best New Musical award at the 2023 Olivier Awards.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Foam
Book SynopsisA gripping play that examines the nature of identity and the consequences of right-wing extremist ideology against the backdrop of London's skinhead and gay scenes of the 1970s and 1980s.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Cassie and the Lights
Book SynopsisA tender and playful drama that examines what makes a family and what holds it together.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books The Bounds
Book SynopsisA darkly comedic tale of national divides, folk horror and the end of the world as we know it. Premiered at Live Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne, and the Royal Court Theatre, London.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books The Women of Llanrumney
Book SynopsisA powerful, searing drama that explores the impact of slavery and the lives of women who experienced it. Premiered at the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books The Sugar Wife
Book SynopsisLove, lust, prostitution and slavery in a 19th-century Quaker household. New edition published alongside the 2024 revival at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Red Pitch
Book SynopsisA fast-paced and sharp-edged play telling a coming-of-age story about three young footballers, exploring the impact of gentrification and regeneration on London's communities. Winner of the 2022 George Devine Award.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Fanny
Book SynopsisA joyful and irreverent comedy about Felix Mendelssohn and his sister Fanny, celebrating music, family and at last the work of a composer overlooked because of her sex.
£10.79
Theatre Communications Group Bindweed
Book SynopsisJudges'' Award, Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting - 2022Four men convicted of domestic abuse offences meet each week to undergo a perpetrator program. But as Jen, the new group facilitator, starts to make progress with the men inside the room, life outside begins to buckle.A shattering and darkly funny play about responsibility and rehabilitation, Martha Loader''sBindweedlooks at what can be done to tackle abuse at its root.The play was the winner of the Judges'' Award at the 2022 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, and was first performed at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester, in 2024, in a co-production with HighTide and the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, and in association with the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester.
£10.79
Nick Hern Books Surrender
Book SynopsisA gripping play about a woman trying to survive in a punishing and dysfunctional penal system that has separated her from her daughter. Premiered at the Arcola Theatre, London, in 2024.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Shout
Book SynopsisA funny, moving drama about anxiety, celebrating difference, and finding your voice as a teenager. Part of the 2024 National Theatre Connections Festival.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books The Lightest Element
Book SynopsisA stage drama about Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, one of the most eminent astronomers of the twentieth century. Premiered at Hampstead Theatre, London, in 2024.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books King Troll The Fawn
Book SynopsisA dystopian stage play exploring migrant experiences in all their complexity and the troll that lives within all of us. Premiered by Kali Theatre at New Diorama Theatre, London, in 2024.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Bellringers
Book Synopsis
£10.44
Nick Hern Books The Sound Inside
Book SynopsisA riveting play about a creative writing professor at Yale and her brilliant, rebellious student, exploring the limits of what one person can ask of another.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Princess Essex
Book SynopsisA riotous, satirical comedy based on the amazing true story of the first woman of colour to enter a beauty pageant in the UK. First performed at Shakespeare's Globe, London, in 2024.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Sandpaper on Sunburn
Book SynopsisThe personal becomes political in a funny and fascinating play exploring identity and family. Premiered at the Dublin Theatre Festival in September 2024.
£10.79
Nick Hern Books Dizzy
Book SynopsisA fantastical, theatrical adventure through the underground world of street art and the hidden patterns in our universe. Premiered on UK tour by Theatre Centre and Sheffield Theatres in 2024.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books The Whitby Rebels
Book SynopsisA joyful stage play telling the (mostly) true story of a boatload of misfits on a misconceived mission to the Arctic. Premiered in 2024 at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books After the Act
Book SynopsisA funny, camp and unapologetically queer musical about Thatcher's Section 28 and the moral panic that gripped a nation and how a community decided to fight back.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Oedipus
Book SynopsisAn intimate and revelatory version of Sophocles' transcendent tragedy, premiered at the Old Vic, London, in 2025, starring Rami Malek and Indira Varma.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Robin Hood and the Christmas Heist
Book SynopsisA charming retelling of the Robin Hood adventure - festive fun for all the family. Premiered at the Rose Theatre, Kingston, in 2024.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books An Interrogation
Book SynopsisA gripping drama from the director of the smash hit SIX: The Musical. At Hampstead Theatre in January 2025.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Shanghai Dolls
Book Synopsis
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Otherland
Book SynopsisA play exploring what it means to be true to yourself in the face of unstoppable change, from the writer of Standing at the Sky's Edge. Premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London, in 2025.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Delay
Book SynopsisA suspenseful, heart-wrenching yet hopeful stage drama about saying what you mean, and saying goodbye. Premiered at Bristol Old Vic in 2025.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Unicorn
Book SynopsisAn explicit, funny and provocative play about a married couple looking to add sparkle to their relationship. Premiered in London's West End in 2025.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Elektra
Book SynopsisThe timeless Greek tragedy, in a magisterial translation by award-winning poet, essayist and translator Anne Carson. Published alongside the West End production in 2025.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books The Hills of California
Book SynopsisThe Webb Sisters are returning to their mother's run-down guest house in Blackpool, in a play by the author of Jerusalem and The Ferryman, premiered in the West End in 2024.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books My Master Builder
Book SynopsisA startling new take on Ibsen's classic play, premiered in the West End in 2025, directed by Michael Grandage, with a cast including Ewan McGregor.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Speed
Book SynopsisA wickedly comic play set around a speed awareness course. Premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2025, directed by Milli Bhatia.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs
Book SynopsisA heart-warming stage comedy about love, queerness, and belonging, featuring the only lesbian choir in the country. Revised edition published alongside the 2025 revival at Kiln Theatre, London.
£10.79
Nick Hern Books Mrs. Warrens Profession
Book SynopsisBernard Shaw's incendiary moral classic, in a version edited and introduced by director Dominic Cooke. Seen in the West End in 2025, starring real-life mother and daughter Imelda Staunton and Bessie Carter.
£10.44
Nick Hern Books The Lunch Punch Power Hour in Conference Room 4
Book Synopsis
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Lost Atoms
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Paradise Now
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Bog Witch
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Ragdoll
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Bird Grove
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£10.44
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Threesome
Book SynopsisA feast of finely tuned extra-marital mayhem from the master of French farce.
£10.79
Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) TOM AND VIV
Book Synopsis
£10.79
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Verbatim, Verbatim: Contemporary Documentary
Book SynopsisFive specially commissioned discussions of verbatim theatre - in the words of the people who make it. 'What a verbatim play does is flash your research nakedly. It’s like cooking a meal but the meat is left raw.’ - Max Stafford-Clark Plays which use people’s actual words as the basis for their dramaare not a new phenomenon. But from the stages of national theatres to fringe venues and universities everywhere, ‘verbatim’ theatre, as it has come to be known, is currently enjoying unprecedented attention and success. It has also attracted high-profile criticism and impassioned debate. In these wide-ranging essays and interviews, six leading dramatists describe their varying approaches to verbatim, examine the strengths and weaknesses of its techniques and explore the reasons for its current popularity. They discuss frankly the unique opportunities and ethical dilemmas that arise when portraying real people on stage, and consider some of the criticisms levelled at this controversial documentary form. 'The intention is always to arrive at the truth.' - Nicolas Kent
£15.99
Gwasg Carreg Gwalch Dwy Ddrama Ha-Ha! - 2
Book SynopsisComedies for young actors (and the young at heart): ''Gwylltio'' by Haf Llewelyn and ''Ffyrst Rispondars'' by Gwynedd Huws Jones.
£4.25
Alma Books Ltd Macbeth
Book SynopsisPart of Alma Evergreens series, this new edition of Macbeth is presented here in a fully annotated edition that will make the text accessible to twenty-first-century readers, enabling them to appreciate its poetry and encouraging them to delve deeper into its variegated and complex history.
£9.35
Alma Books Ltd Selected Plays: Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of
Book SynopsisBetween 1892 and 1895, Oscar Wilde’s drawing-room comedies Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest made his name as a playwright who fearlessly mocked the hypocrisy and snobbery of Victorian society and took gleeful delight in appearing to trivialize its most sacred institutions. With its premiere on Valentine’s Day 1895, The Importance of Being Earnest – a hilarious comedy of mistaken identities and coruscating language – was a phenomenal success, but its run was cut short prematurely by Wilde’s court case and subsequent incarceration, and the play was not published until 1899, after Wilde had been released from prison. Also including the powerful Salome, originally written in French and banned by the British censor, this collection displays Wilde at his provocative and witty best, and demonstrates why he was a playwright who delighted audiences and infuriated critics in equal measure.Trade ReviewReading and rereading Wilde throughout the years, I noticed something that his panegyrists had not, it seems, suspected: namely the verifiable, elementary fact that Wilde was virtually always right. -- Jorge Luis Borges
£7.59
Nick Hern Books The Suitcase Kid
Book SynopsisAn adaptation for the stage of Jacqueline Wilson's popular novel. Ten-year-old Andy used to live happily at Mulberry Cottage with her family: Mum, Dad, and Radish the rabbit, who lives in Andy's pocket and shares all her secrets. But then it all went wrong: Mum went to live with Bill, and Dad went off with Carrie. And Andy is expected to shuttle between the two - living out of a suitcase - and come to terms with her strange new families. Vicky Ireland's stage adaptation of The Suitcase Kid was first staged at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, in 2007. Seen all over the country, this resourceful dramatisation is suitable for young actors as well as young audiences. Vicky Ireland has provided production notes to indicate how the play can be staged even with minimal resources - plus a lot of ingenuity!Trade Review'A real theatrical treat... the audience of school parties fell quiet as mice and raptly attentive the second the lights went down' * Scarborough Evening News *
£11.39
Nick Hern Books Dracula
Book SynopsisAcclaimed poet and playwright Liz Lochhead's Dracula stays refreshingly close to Bram Stoker's classic novel. Asked to adapt it by the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, she immersed herself in the book. 'After a sleepless night,' she writes in the Introduction, 'my hair was standing on end, what with the mad Renfield in his lunatic asylum eating flies and playing John the Baptist to his coming master… and with Lucy's description of her "dream" of flying with the red-eyed one above the lighthouse at Whitby, and Jonathan's "dream" of the three Vampire Brides' advances upon him and of their being repelled at the last minute by the furious Dracula… 'This was before I'd even got to the abducted children or "the loving hand" of Lucy's fiancé staking her through the heart… or that shocking rape-like bit where, with Mina's newly-wed husband Jonathan asleep in a flushed stupor by her side, Dracula, at her throat, takes his fill of her life's-blood… 'Still, what really attracted me to the story was Rule One for becoming a vampire-victim: "First of all you have to invite him in."' Liz Lochhead's stage adaptation of Dracula was first performed at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in 1985. Ideal for schools and drama groups, this Dracula is all the more chilling for the respect it shows for Stoker's original nightmare creation.Trade Review'Despite remaining faithful to Bram Stoker's original, Lochhead's version grapples with contemporary preoccupations: gender roles, the horrors of the 20th century, the battles between faith and reason, madness and sanity, democracy and aristocracy... an erudite revisiting of a primal myth' * The Stage *
£11.69
