Advice and information for Customers Licensing performances outside the UK or Ireland
Key Contacts:
Concord Theatricals handles all international licensing for the play rights that we control directly. The only exception to this are the following countries, which are looked after by sub-agents:
Australia – Origin Theatrical
Austria – Concord Theatricals GmbH
Belgium (amateur, selected Musicals) – Albersen
Germany – Concord Theatricals GmbH
Luxembourg (amateur, selected Musicals) – Albersen
The Netherlands (amateur, selected Musicals) – Albersen
New Zealand (Musicals) – Origin Theatrical
New Zealand (Plays, amateur) – The Play Bureau
Switzerland – Concord Theatricals GmbH
Frequently Asked Questions:
Why does the availability checker always indicate the play is restricted?
Many international (non-UK/ Ireland) licence requests are run through the rights owners for permission to proceed. This is so that we can avoid licensing any productions that may conflict, including licenses in other languages in your territory for the title. As such, we are not able to confirm availability until we receive an application from you and start the permission process.
Why can it take up to 6 weeks to find out if a title is available?
Whilst we endeavour to find out if the rights are available for you as quickly as possible, on occasion it can take several weeks. This is often due to many people having to confirm there is no conflicting interest, such as the foreign language agents, or it may be that a producer has a licence for that territory and we are waiting to see if your production conflicts with their plans. We recommend that you apply for a licence as soon as possible and well before you make any firm production plans for your chosen show, so as to avoid any financial impact if the rights are not available for you.
On the occasions when it takes longer to clear the rights for you, it is always worth applying for the rights to a back-up title, in case we do not hear back in time for you to proceed with your first choice.
Does it matter to which Concord Theatricals office I apply for a licence?
As a general rule, titles by US and Canadian play authors should be applied for through our US website, and titles by UK/Irish play authors through the UK site, though there are exceptions to this: most UK and European productions of R&H Theatricals and Tams-Witmark musicals are handled by our UK office. If you apply for a licence through the UK website that will be licensed from our US office we can transfer these internally so it does not matter which office you apply through, however please note that any estimated fees shown throughout the licence application will change and be in a different currency.
A title is on the UK website for licensing but not on the US, or vice versa. What does this mean?
We contract with authors and agents specific rights to license their titles. This can include amateur rights, professional rights, foreign language rights; and a contract will cover certain territories. As we have two separate offices, we often have two contracts for the same title, or one office may have a contract to license a title but the other not. If you wish to know if we license the title and the rights you require in your territory please feel free to email [email protected] with the specific rights that you are looking for, or alternatively you can apply for the licence through one of our websites.