This year, Nick Hern Books celebrated thirty years of theatre publishing. As the year draws to a close, we take a look at some of the things that have made it a year to remember... We published 100 new plays over the year, two-thirds of them by female writers. They included the exhilarating debut play … Continue reading Nick Hern Books at 30
Plays
‘We all live within shouting distance of someone in crisis’: Lynn Nottage on her play Sweat
As her latest play Sweat opens at the Donmar Warehouse in London, the double-Pulitzer-winning playwright Lynn Nottage reveals the painful personal encounter that led her to write it, and how her intensive research uncovered truths overlooked by mainstream media... Several years ago I received a commission from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival to write a play … Continue reading ‘We all live within shouting distance of someone in crisis’: Lynn Nottage on her play Sweat
Remembering Stephen Jeffreys
This week saw the tragic passing of playwright and NHB author Stephen Jeffreys. Known for works including hit historical romp The Libertine, he was also a caring and supportive mentor to an entire generation of writers. In this edited introduction from a recently published collection of Stephen's plays, his wife, Annabel Arden, pays tribute to the … Continue reading Remembering Stephen Jeffreys
‘Reaching out for life in a new country’: Winsome Pinnock on her play Leave Taking
Winsome Pinnock’s play Leave Taking, about a Caribbean family living in North London, is as powerful today as it was when it was first performed in 1987. As a major new production opens at the Bush Theatre in London, the author reveals how she came to write it, and how it was inspired by her … Continue reading ‘Reaching out for life in a new country’: Winsome Pinnock on her play Leave Taking
‘A writer of protean gifts’: Lucy Kirkwood on Caryl Churchill
This year's recipient of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Outstanding Contribution to Writing is the playwright Caryl Churchill – one of the leading figures in contemporary world theatre, and an NHB author for over thirty years – 'in honour of her illustrious body of work and a career which has spanned over … Continue reading ‘A writer of protean gifts’: Lucy Kirkwood on Caryl Churchill
‘Let’s not forget how far we have come’: Mark Gatiss on remembering gay history in Queers
July 2017 sees the fiftieth anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, which partially decriminalised sex between men over twenty-one in the privacy of their own homes in England and Wales. When the BBC approached writer, actor and director Mark Gatiss to curate Queers, a series of monologues to mark the anniversary, he got to work … Continue reading ‘Let’s not forget how far we have come’: Mark Gatiss on remembering gay history in Queers
‘One of the great artistic privileges of my life’: Conor McPherson on writing and directing Girl from the North Country
Fresh from his acclaimed TV debut Paula on BBC Two, award-winning Irish playwright Conor McPherson’s latest project sees him weave the masterful songs of Nobel Prize laureate Bob Dylan into a poetic, haunting tale of love, loss and obligation set in Minnesota during the Great Depression. As Girl from the North Country premieres at the … Continue reading ‘One of the great artistic privileges of my life’: Conor McPherson on writing and directing Girl from the North Country
‘There is so much left to discover’: Jason Warren on creating immersive theatre
As a director, Jason Warren has staged immersive theatre productions in a variety of styles and settings – from relocating Shakespeare to a seedy nightclub, to turning school buildings into a quarantine facility for survivors of a widespread plague. Here, he shares his own passion for the form, his hopes for his new book Creating Worlds, … Continue reading ‘There is so much left to discover’: Jason Warren on creating immersive theatre
‘One of the greatest ever collaborators’: Enda Walsh on working with David Bowie
Now playing in London following its premiere in New York last year, new musical Lazarus marks a unique collaboration between the playwright Enda Walsh and legendary singer and songwriter David Bowie – featuring many of the latter's most famous songs. Though nobody realised at the time, the production turned out to be one of Bowie's … Continue reading ‘One of the greatest ever collaborators’: Enda Walsh on working with David Bowie
Edinburgh Fringe Report 2016 Part 1: Final preparations
Getting ready for The Fringe? Our Edinburgh Fringe Report is back (you can still read last year's Report here) with six more amateur theatre companies – all of them performing plays licensed by Nick Hern Books – revealing the state of their play as they get ready to launch themselves on The Fringe... Holes by … Continue reading Edinburgh Fringe Report 2016 Part 1: Final preparations
The Prompt Book 