Oberon Books


Oberon Books is a London-based 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.
WWW Official Site

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 for the Royal Shakespeare Company and One Man, Two Guvnors, a West End and Broadway hit for Britain's National Theatre in 2011 starring James Corden. 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 and Henrik Ibsen.
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.
In December 2019, Oberon Books was acquired by Bloomsbury Publishing to join its longstanding play and performance imprints Methuen Drama and Arden Shakespeare.

Notable contemporary authors

Theatre group partners

Oberon also publishes plays from the following theatre companies:

Critical acclaim and awards

John Logan's Red was the winner of six Tony Awards in 2010, including Best Play and Best Direction. Red was also the winner of the 2010 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. The following Oberon plays were also nominated for Olivier Awards in 2010:Ìyà Ilé by Oladipo Agboluaje nominated for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate TheatreAfghanistan: The Great Game by various authors, nominated for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate TheatreEngland People Very Nice by Richard Bean, nominated for Best New ComedyOur Class by Tadeusz Slobodzianek, nominated for Best Director for Bijan Sheibani
A number of Oberon playwrights have been nominated for the 2010 Evening Standard Awards:
Nominees for the 2010 TMA Theatre Awards include:
Oberon's previous award winners include:A Disappearing Number 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

John Osborne discovery

In September 2008 two early playscripts by John Osborne, 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.