Amateur performances in the UK and Worldwide

We really hope that you will want to stage your own productions of the Platform plays. Before you start rehearsals, even if you’re performing just readings or excepts, make sure you obtain an amateur performance licence. This is a quick and straightforward process and can be done by contacting the Performing Rights Department at Nick Hern Books on 020 8749 4953 or at rights@nickhernbooks.co.uk.

It’s standard practice that all groups performing a play – including amateur groups – pay for a performance licence. Playwrights make their living not just from the sale of scripts but also from having their work performed. It is very hard to sustain a career in writing and to make a living from it, which is why it is so important to pay the performing rights fee before using a writer’s work.

For the Platform plays, Nick Hern Books have reduced the amateur performance rate down to £70 (+ VAT in the UK) per performance to make the plays accessible to as many groups as possible. This breaks down in the following way:

20% goes to Nick Hern Books so they can cover the costs they incur in administrating the performance rights
40% goes to the writer as a royalty
40% goes to Tonic. We put this directly into the commissioning pot for the next round of Platform plays.

What this means is that by paying for your performance rights, you’ll be putting back in to Platform. Tonic receives no core funding so we have to raise every penny that’s needed to commission future plays to add to the Platform series. If every group that performs a Platform play pays their fair share of amateur performance rights, we’ll be able to get more plays out there for you, far far quicker.

If you’re worried that the cost of an amateur performance licence will put you out of pocket – for instance if you won’t be charging for tickets, know you’ll have a very small audience, or appreciate your audience can’t afford to pay much – please contact Nick Hern Books to discuss your situation. Tonic and Nick Hern Books want the Platform plays to be performable by as many groups as possible and will do what we can to help.

Also, so long as you are an amateur group, you can use the cover image from the script on any of your production’s marketing material free of charge. You can discuss this with Nick Hern Books when arranging your amateur performance licence.

All professional performance licenses should be applied for via the writers’ respective agents in the normal way.