Mike Bradwell – who died earlier this month at the age of 77 – left an indelible mark on British theatre. During his long and illustrious career as a theatre director, he founded, worked with and ran a variety of leading companies and venues, and gave early chances to many young playwrights who have gone … Continue reading ‘We shall never see his like again’ – a tribute to Mike Bradwell
Nick Hern Books
Nick Hern on his conversations with Arthur Miller
Today, 17 October 2015, marks one hundred years since the birth of one of the twentieth-century's greatest playwrights: Arthur Miller. In this extract from Mel Gussow's book Conversations with Miller, which is published in a new Centenary Edition to celebrate the occasion, publisher and NHB founder Nick Hern shares his own memories of Miller - … Continue reading Nick Hern on his conversations with Arthur Miller
Edinburgh Fringe Report 2015 Part 2: The Final Reckoning
The Edinburgh Fringe is over for another year, but how did our intrepid amateur companies get on performing plays licensed by Nick Hern Books? We hear from three of them as they recount the highs – and the lows – of mounting a production on the Fringe. (If you missed the first instalment, it's available … Continue reading Edinburgh Fringe Report 2015 Part 2: The Final Reckoning
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
Sandi Toksvig: Why I Wrote Bully Boy
As her play, Bully Boy, opens at the all-new St. James Theatre in London, Sandi Toksvig explains how her own sense of rage led her to write about the impact of a contemporary military occupation on the mental health of serving soldiers... For someone who thinks of themselves as a pacifist I have written a … Continue reading Sandi Toksvig: Why I Wrote Bully Boy
Birth of the ‘Rules’ by Andy Nyman
Andy Nyman's The Golden Rules of Acting offers real-world advice on how to be an actor - written by a working actor with over 25 years’ experience. In irresistible pocket-sized paperback, packed with short, punchy bulletpoints and illustrated in colour throughout - it certainly gets the message across in a totally memorable way. In the … Continue reading Birth of the ‘Rules’ by Andy Nyman
I Am Shakespeare: by Mark Rylance
As actor Mark Rylance returns to Shakespeare’s Globe to play the title part in Richard III and Olivia in Twelfth Night, he reveals how his interest in the controversial Shakespeare authorship debate – the subject of his first play I Am Shakespeare, published this month by Nick Hern Books – led to the charge that … Continue reading I Am Shakespeare: by Mark Rylance
The ‘X Factor’ Actor
John Abbott has enjoyed a varied career in theatre - as an actor, director, educator (namely, Head of Acting at ArtsEd) and author. He has written three books for NHB on theatre, and his latest - The Acting Book - is published this month. John identifies charisma as one of the most important attributes for … Continue reading The ‘X Factor’ Actor
‘So tyrannous and rough in proof!’: Shakespeare and typos. By Nick de Somogyi.
Why didn't Shakespeare concern himself with the many inaccuracies in the printed editions of his works? Nick de Somogyi, editor of the Shakespeare Folios Series, hunts for clues and looks at the lasting consequences, as his new book Shakespeare on Theatre, a unique collection of Shakespeare's every reflection on the theatre, is published. In the … Continue reading ‘So tyrannous and rough in proof!’: Shakespeare and typos. By Nick de Somogyi.
The Hound of the Baskervilles: the Peepolykus version
You don't need an actual hellhound or a bucket of phosphorus to stage the Peepolykus version of Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles - the rib-tickling spoof, full of the company's trademark verbal and visual ingenuity, seen on national tour and in the West End. But, as co-adapter, Steven Canny explains, there's plenty of scope … Continue reading The Hound of the Baskervilles: the Peepolykus version
The Prompt Book 