Oberon Books is a London-based independent publisher of drama texts and books on theatre. The company publishes around 100 titles per year, many of them plays by new writers. In addition, the list contains a range of titles on theatre studies, acting, writing and dance.

History

Oberon Books was founded by James Hogan in 1985. Two of its titles are poet Adrian Mitchell's 1998 stage adaptation of C. S. Lewis's ''

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe ''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' is a fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1950. It is the first published and best known of seven novels in ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' (1950–1956). Among all the ...

'' for the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...

and '' One Man, Two Guvnors'' ( Richard Bean's modern version of Carlo Goldoni's '' Servant of Two Masters''), a West End and Broadway hit for Britain's National Theatre in 2011 starring

James Corden James Kimberley Corden (born 22 August 1978) is an English television host, actor, comedian, and singer. In the United Kingdom, he is best known for co-writing and starring in the critically acclaimed BBC sitcom ''Gavin & Stacey''. In the Un ...

. The NT Live recording of the latter was scheduled to be shown on PBS in late 2020. the company has 1600 titles in print, most available as both print and e-books. As well as new plays, Oberon also publishes classic works by playwrights such as J. B. Priestley,

Sir Arnold Wesker Sir Arnold Wesker (24 May 1932 – 12 April 2016) was an English dramatist. He was the author of 50 plays, four volumes of short stories, two volumes of essays, much journalism and a book on the subject, a children's book, some poetry, and oth ...

and

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

. Oberon's mission expanded to include publishing a "culturally and politically diverse" range of plays. Recent examples include ''Barber Shop Chronicles'' by Inua Ellams, ''The HIV Monologues'' by Patrick Cash and ''Chewing Gum Dreams'' by

Michaela Coel Michaela Ewuraba Boakye-Collinson (born 1 October 1987), known professionally as Michaela Coel, is a British screenwriter and actress. She is best known for creating and starring in the E4 sitcom '' Chewing Gum'' (2015–2017), for which she wo ...

. In December 2019, Oberon Books was acquired by

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a U ...

to join its longstanding play and performance imprints Methuen Drama and Arden Shakespeare.

Notable contemporary authors

* Abi Morgan * Oladipo Agboluaje *

Howard Barker Howard Barker (born 28 June 1946) is a British playwright, screenwriter and writer of radio drama, painter, poet, and essayist writing predominantly on playwriting and the theatre. The author of an extensive body of dramatic works since the 197 ...

* Neil Bartlett * Richard Bean * Torben Betts * Ranjit Bolt * Tim Crouch *

Will Eno Will Eno (born 1965) is an American playwright based in Brooklyn, New York. His play, '' Thom Pain (based on nothing)'' was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 2005. His play ''The Realistic Joneses'' appeared on Broadway in 2014, wher ...

Lara Foot Lara may refer to: Places * Lara (state), a state in Venezuela *Electoral district of Lara, an electoral district in Victoria, Australia * Lara, Antalya, an urban district in Turkey * Lara, Victoria, a township in Australia * Lara de los Inf ...

* Jon Fosse * John Fraser * Christopher Fry * Pam Gems *

A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling (; born 3 April 1949) is a British philosopher and author. He was born in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and spent most of his childhood there and in Nyasaland (now Malawi). In 2011 he founded and became the first Mast ...

* Stephen Adly Guirgis * Tanika Gupta * Sir Peter Hall * Dennis Kelly * Nicolas Kent * Arthur Kopit * Bernard Kops * Bryony Lavery *

Nell Leyshon Nell Leyshon is a British writer whose work alternates between prose, stage and radio drama. She was born and grew up in Somerset, and spent half of her childhood in Glastonbury, and the other half in a small farming village on the edge of the So ...

* John Logan * Robert David MacDonald *

Mustapha Matura Mustapha Matura (17 December 1939 – 29 October 2019) was a Trinidadian playwright living in London. Characterised by critic Michael Billington as "a pioneering black playwright who opened the doors for his successors", Matura was the first Br ...

* Glyn Maxwell * Sheridan Morley * Dominique Morisseau * Virginia McKenna *

Dorota Masłowska Dorota Masłowska (Polish pronunciation:; born 3 July 1983) is a Polish writer, playwright, columnist and journalist. Life and work Masłowska was born in Wejherowo, and grew up there. She applied for the University of Gdańsk's faculty of p ...

* Douglas Maxwell *

John Mortimer Sir John Clifford Mortimer (21 April 1923 – 16 January 2009) was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author. He is best known for novels about a barrister named Horace Rumpole. Early life Mortimer was born in Hampstead, London, ...

* Richard Norton-Taylor * Meredith Oakes * Tamsin Oglesby *

John Osborne John James Osborne (12 December 1929 – 24 December 1994) was an English playwright, screenwriter and actor, known for his prose that criticized established social and political norms. The success of his 1956 play ''Look Back in Anger'' tra ...

* Gary Owen * Julia Pascal * Michael Pennington * Barry Reckord *

Anya Reiss Anya Reiss (born in 1991) is a British playwright and screenwriter. Career The youngest writer to have a play staged in London, a graduate of the Royal Court's Young Writers Programme, she had her first play '' Spur of the Moment'' staged there ...

* Roland Schimmelpfennig *

Roy Smiles Roy Smiles (born 1966) is a singer-songwriter & playwright from Ealing, West London. He is also an occasional actor. Smiles has written twenty seven theatre plays, the best known of which is Kurt and Sid, a 2009 London West End production abo ...

Ade Solanke Adeola Solanke FRSA, commonly known as Ade Solanke, is a British-Nigerian playwright and screenwriter. She is best known for her debut stage play, ''Pandora's Box'', which was produced at the Arcola Theatre in 2012, and was nominated as Best Ne ...

* Aurin Squire * Laura Wade *

Anne Washburn Anne Washburn is an American playwright. Life Washburn graduated from Reed College and from New York University, with an M.F.A. Her plays have been produced in New York City by Cherry Lane Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, The Civilians, Vineyard Theatre, ...

Anna Zeigler Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221) ...

Theatre group partners

Oberon also publishes plays from the following theatre companies: * Kneehigh Theatre * Complicite *

OperaUpClose OperaUpClose is a national touring opera company, led by Artistic Director Flora McIntosh, The company was founded in 2009 to produce its début production, Robin Norton-Hale's Olivier Award-winning adaptation of Puccini's ''La bohème'' at T ...

* Out of Joint *

The Red Room Theatre Company The Red Room Theatre Company is a theatre company based in London, United Kingdom. In the 1990s, it was an important venue for new play writing. Description It was founded in 1995 by Lisa Goldman as a voluntary organization and became regularl ...

Critical acclaim and awards

John Logan's '' Red'' was the winner of six Tony Awards in 2010, including Best Play and Best Direction ( Michael Grandage). '' Red'' was also the winner of the 2010

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...

for Outstanding Play. The following Oberon plays were also nominated for Olivier Awards in 2010: * ''Ìyà Ilé (The First Wife)'' by Oladipo Agboluaje nominated for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre * ''Afghanistan: The Great Game'' by various authors, nominated for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre * ''

England People Very Nice ''England People Very Nice'' is a play by Richard Bean. It opened at the National Theatre in February 2009. The play, directed by Nicholas Hytner, is about four waves of immigrants - French Huguenot, Irish, Jewish and Bangladeshi - that have ar ...

'' by Richard Bean, nominated for Best New Comedy * ''Our Class'' by Tadeusz Slobodzianek, nominated for Best Director for

Bijan Sheibani Bijan Sheibani ( fa, بیژن شیبانی) is a British theatre director. Early life and education Sheibani was born in Liverpool, and moved with his family to Hove when he was 7. He was schooled at St Andrew's C of E School in Hove and at Brigh ...

A number of Oberon playwrights have been nominated for the 2010 Evening Standard Awards: * Richard Bean's ''The Big Fellah'' for Best New Play. * Laura Wade's '' Posh'' for Best New Play. *''

and Atiha Sen Gupta, both nominated for the Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright Nominees for the 2010

TMA Theatre Awards The UK Theatre Awards, established in 1991 and known before 2011 as the TMA Awards, are presented annually by UK Theatre (formerly the Theatrical Management Association) in recognition of creative excellence and outstanding work in regional theat ...

include: *''Mrs Reynolds and the Ruffian'' by Gary Owen for Best New Play. *'' Spur of the Moment'' by

for Best New Play. *''"

Kursk Kursk ( rus, Курск, p=ˈkursk) is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym rivers. The area around Kursk was the site of a turning point in the Soviet–German stru ...

" by Bryony Lavery for Best Touring Production. Oberon's previous award winners include: * ''

A Disappearing Number ''A Disappearing Number'' is a 2007 play co-written and devised by the Théâtre de Complicité company and directed and conceived by English playwright Simon McBurney. It was inspired by the collaboration during the 1910s between the pure mathe ...

'' by Simon McBurney and Complicite, winner of both the Evening Standard Award and the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2008 * '' Bloody Sunday: Scenes from the Saville Inquiry'' by Richard Norton-Taylor, winner of the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre in 2006 *

, winner of the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright for ''Comfort Me With Apples'' in 2005 * Torben Betts, winner of the

Critics' Award for Theatre in Scotland The Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) are an annual event awarding performances "substantially produced in Scotland, or developed, rehearsed and premiered in Scotland". Awards ceremony The ceremony is itinerant in terms of location, sw ...

for Best New Play with ''The Unconquered'', 2007.

John Osborne discovery

In September 2008 two early playscripts by

, previously thought to be lost, were discovered in the British Library's archives. Both plays predated '' Look Back in Anger'' and were published together for the first time by Oberon Books, as ''Before Anger''.Sheffield University News Releases 2009
(retrieved 2 August 2010).

References

{{Authority control Publishing companies of the United Kingdom