The Bruntwood Prize is the biggest national competition for playwriting. With prize money totalling £40,000, plus the chance of a production on a major stage, as well as publication by Nick Hern Books, it's a fabulous opportunity for writers. Since its inception in 2005, over 11,000 scripts have been entered, more than £200,000 has been … Continue reading Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting: the first ten years
Nick Hern
Drama Online: the Netflix of Theatre
This week saw the launch of the Nick Hern Books Collection on Drama Online, a groundbreaking new educational resource for reading and studying drama. Here, NHB's Digital Editor Tim Digby-Bell explains how it works, and how it sheds new light on familiar plays. Finally, it's launch week. We've been working hard preparing a selection of … Continue reading Drama Online: the Netflix of Theatre
‘It’s not so much about the gift, but the graft’ – Lyndsey Winship on Being a Dancer
In her new book Being a Dancer, dance critic and arts journalist Lyndsey Winship shares invaluable advice and insight taken from exclusive interviews with twenty-five leading dancers and choreographers, including Carlos Acosta, Matthew Bourne, Darcey Bussell and Tamara Rojo. Here she reflects on her own personal love affair with dance, and what compiling the book … Continue reading ‘It’s not so much about the gift, but the graft’ – Lyndsey Winship on Being a Dancer
Girls centre stage: Lucy Kerbel on building a new canon of writing for young actors
Good roles for young female actors are in short supply, so Tonic Theatre set out to change that by commissioning a series of new plays with mainly or entirely female casts for schools and youth theatre groups to perform. As the first three plays in the Platform series are published by Nick Hern Books and … Continue reading Girls centre stage: Lucy Kerbel on building a new canon of writing for young actors
With a little help from my friends: Amelia Bullmore on her play Di and Viv and Rose
Actress and playwright Amelia Bullmore had a West End hit earlier this year with Di and Viv and Rose, a warm and funny play about three women and their enduring friendship. As the play is made available for amateur performance, she recalls the moment that inspired her to write it, and explains why, for her, … Continue reading With a little help from my friends: Amelia Bullmore on her play Di and Viv and Rose
John Hollingworth on writing – and rewriting – his first play, Multitudes
When actor John Hollingworth started writing his first full-length play, he had little idea it would take so long to reach the stage. No bad thing, though, when the result is Multitudes, currently at the Tricycle Theatre – and 'as urgent and immediate as the morning headlines' (Guardian). How did he do it? In this interview, … Continue reading John Hollingworth on writing – and rewriting – his first play, Multitudes
West End Producer: ‘Traditions and superstitions’
Though they're perfectly sensible, sane and rational in every other possible way, theatre folk are a rather superstitious lot. So to mark this Friday 13th, theatre impresario and masked Twitter phenomenon West End Producer - who was himself born onstage during a performance of Titus Andronicus - delves into the murky, sometimes confusing world of … Continue reading West End Producer: ‘Traditions and superstitions’
Dymphna Callery: we need a more playful approach to staging plays
Dymphna Callery's Through the Body: A practical guide to physical theatre is beloved of a generation of drama students. But have we ghetto-ised 'physical theatre' in an unhelpful way? In her new book published today, The Active Text, she looks at how physical theatre techniques can be used to unlock scripted plays, and inject new … Continue reading Dymphna Callery: we need a more playful approach to staging plays
West End Producer: ‘Let’s talk about panto’
Ho ho ho, dears, ho ho ho. Taken from his book Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Acting, theatre impresario and Twitter phenomenon West End Producer gives you the lowdown on the festive theatrical staple that is pantomime, and tells you how to survive one... Once a year a great theatrical tradition is practised … Continue reading West End Producer: ‘Let’s talk about panto’
Ayub Khan Din: my family in East is East – and other stories
Actor-turned-playwright Ayub Khan Din is currently playing the role inspired by his own father in a West End revival of his play East is East. Here he reveals how all the plays in a new collection of his work have drawn on his own experience and his turbulent relationship with his family... I began writing … Continue reading Ayub Khan Din: my family in East is East – and other stories
The Prompt Book 