Got a question about an online order, shipping or a particular title?
Our Retail Customer Services team can be contacted at [email protected], or call us on 020 7054 7298. Please note that our office hours are 9.30am — 5.30pm, Monday to Friday.
For any questions related to orders at the Samuel French Bookshop at the Royal Court Theatre, email [email protected].
Is your website secure?
Our site has an SSL certificate which means it uses the industry standard Secure Socket Layer 256-bit encryption to ensure that all sensitive data passed between the web server and browser remains private and integral. You know when you have entered a secure webpage by the URL (web page address) which changes from http:// to https:// and/or when you see the locked padlock symbol alongside the URL. If you buy online from our website you will be directed during the checkout process to our payment service provider Sage Pay (formerly Protx) — the largest independent payment service provider (PSP) in the UK and Ireland. Sage Pay provides a secure payment gateway (Level 1 PCI DSS), processing payments for thousands of online businesses, including ours and it is Sage Pay's utmost priority to ensure that transaction data is handled in a safe and secure way.
I don’t want to pay by card online / I would prefer be invoiced first / I prefer to order and pay offline. How do I do this?
If you can't pay by card or BACS Direct Debit online, you can still create an order on our website and choose Purchase Order as the payment method. When you check out, we'll email you a summary of the order containing links to download and print an invoice, and advice on how to make payment. When making payment please quote the Invoice ID as an identifying reference.
What methods of payment do you accept?
We accept Visa, Visa Debit, MasterCard and American Express.
Paying Purchase Orders: If you select Purchase Order as the payment method, please note that this creates a pro-forma invoice which must be paid for before the order is dispatched, unless you hold a Credit Account by special arrangement (for more information on opening a Credit Account please call or email [email protected]). Choose from one of the following payment options:
- A) Card
Please note that e-mail communication is not inherently secure. In order to safeguard the security of your confidential information and to comply with our internal security policies, please do not risk sending any payment card information by e-mail or through the post. Please telephone to pay on +44 (0) 20 7054 7298.
B) BACS Direct Debit for UK Domestic Bank Accounts (Bank Automated Clearing System) Concord Theatricals is happy to offer customers with a UK Bank Account a faster and safer payment method alternative to sending a paper cheque: BACS Direct Debit. Unlike a paper cheque, which may have to go through the post, a BACS Direct Debit payment is paid online, cutting down on processing ti You have two ways to pay with BACS Direct Debit; option one, you can enter in your bank account information with every transaction. Option two, you can verify your bank account through our secure dashboard portal, once it’s been verified it’s good to use on any future payment with Concord Theatricals, no need to enter in the details for each transaction. This type of payment can be made directly in the Retail shopping checkout on www.concordtheatricals.co.uk.
C) Cheque or Postal Order in GBP made payable to “Concord Theatricals Ltd”.
For your security, please send by registered post to our office address: Concord Theatricals, Aldwych House, 71-91 Aldwych, London, WC2B 4HN, UK. Please allow up to 14 days for processing.
D) UK & International Bank Transfer (for customers outside the UK), using the Bank Automated Clearing System (BACS), to:
Barclays Bank PLC- Leicester, Leicestershire, United Kingdom, LE87 2BB
Sort Code: 20-78-98
Account Code: 63047423
Account Name: Concord Theatricals Limited
IBAN: GB49BARC20789863047423
BANK IDENTIFIER CODE/ SWIFT ADDRESS: BARCGB22
Registered Company Number: 08248854
VAT Number: 363 8894 45
Please allow up to 14 days for processing. International bank transfers may incur bank charges. If this is your chosen method of payment and it is an international transaction, all bank charges must be covered by you and not deducted from the invoiced amount. Payment must be remitted in GBP (your bank can advise on how to do this), please do not attempt to convert the invoiced amount into local currency. Please also ensure that your Invoice ID number is quoted as an identifying reference on the payment slip. Our Finance Department contact for sending remittance advice notifications is: [email protected].
What if the title I want isn't listed on your website?
Please contact Customer Services on 020 7054 7298, or email [email protected] to check availability. As a general rule, if a title is in print and available for sale in the UK, we can make it available to order on our website upon request, fast.
Can I get a discount when I order online?
As well as running regular sales and online promotions where selected titles are available to all at discount for a limited time, we offer ongoing discount for online orders to: Booksellers, Students, Friends of the Royal Court, and members of the following organisations: Spotlight, The Actors Centre, NODA, The Little Theatre Guild, The Society of Teachers of Speech and Drama (STSD) and Performingartstutor.com, (and sometimes others on a case by case basis). We particularly welcome enquiries from schools and are always happy to discuss terms for bulk or regular orders. For more information please contact [email protected] or [email protected], if you're a bookseller, or call us on 020 7054 7298.
What delivery options are available?
UK shipping rates are calculated by weight, while those for International orders are determined by a combination of weight and the appropriate services available to individual countries. Standard non-tracked airmail is only offered as an option to selected destinations (including most of Europe, USA and Australia); for others we use only tracked airmail or air courier services to guarantee the safe delivery of your order.
In the UK, you can choose from the following shipping options:
1st Class (Royal Mail or 24 hour courier at higher weights) - delivery usually within 1-2 working days from the date of dispatch (an estimate of when the item(s) ordered will be dispatched is given on each product page beneath the Add to Cart button)
2nd Class (Royal Mail or 48 hour courier at higher weights) - delivery usually within 3-4 working days from the date of dispatch (an estimate of when the item(s) ordered will be dispatched is given on each product page beneath the Add to Cart button)
Please note: most Samuel French published titles are produced via print on demand, which are usually manufactured and dispatched within 2 business days of the date of order (as indicated on each product page, beneath the Add to Cart button). This includes almost all Samuel French US titles available to buy at concordtheatricals.co.uk, as well as those published here in the UK. Please factor in this additional time - and indeed the dispatch estimate given for any product on our website - into an overall estimated time of delivery for your order.
If you have any questions about delivery methods or charges, please contact Customer Services on 020 7054 7298, or email [email protected].
What are your recommended last order dates for Christmas delivery?
Recommended last ordering dates are as follows:
Australia and New Zealand: Wednesday 29 November
China (People's Republic): Thursday 30 November
Caribbean: Friday 1 December
Africa, Asia (except China), Central and South America, Far and Middle East: Monday 4 December
Cyprus, Malta, Greece, Eastern Europe (except Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia) and Turkey: Tuesday 5 December
Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Poland, Sweden, USA: Thursday 7 December
Ireland, Rest of Europe: Friday 8 December
UK 2nd Class: Thursday 14 December
UK 1st Class: Friday 15 December
When will my order be dispatched?
Items in stock will normally be dispatched within one working day of receipt of your order (normally on the same day if placed before 1pm GMT). There is limited dispatch of orders on Saturdays and none on Sundays or public holidays. Print on demand titles (the majority of Samuel French publications) will be manufactured and dispatched - under separate cover, if ordered together with in-stock items - within 2 business days. There is no additional charge for one or more split shipments from different warehouse locations; our rates remain the same as when everything is sent in one consignment and you only pay what's quoted during checkout. Approximately 6000 titles on the website are available for dispatch within 1-2 business days, and many thousands more, in the wider catalogue, within 7 days. A smaller number of specialist titles and those imported from the US may take slightly longer to bring into stock and then ship, but usually no longer than 2-3 weeks maximum. The estimated dispatch time for each individual title is given on the product page directly under the "Add to Cart" button (e.g. "Usually dispatched within 2 business days").
Very occasionally items may prove to be temporarily unavailable, or an order may be part-supplied, in which case the balance of the order will follow as soon as available. We'll email you in such cases with detailed information and also inform you if any goods ordered are now out of print or currently unavailable, in which case an outstanding order, or part order, may be cancelled upon request and a refund will be issued.
Where is my order?
We'll email you when your order has been dispatched (sometimes more than once if the order is shipped in more than one consignment or from multiple warehouse locations) and you can track the status of your order by logging in to our website and viewing the order details in "My Account." Because delays beyond our control, albeit very rarely, can sometimes occur within postal services, we ask UK customers to allow up to 7 days for delivery, although the great majority of orders will arrive within the estimated times given above. Likewise, overseas customers should please allow 28 days for delivery as standard, but delivery times will usually be much quicker to most destinations. Please contact us if you have any further questions regarding the whereabouts of your order.
If you have any questions at all about your order, please contact the Retail Team with your query, including your invoice ID/order number if possible, via [email protected] or call us 020 7054 7298. We'll respond to emails as quickly as possible; normally within minutes and always within one business day. Please note our office hours are 9.30am - 5.30pm, Monday to Friday.
Are your materials available in specialised formats for people with disabilities?
Yes, they are. We provide green-paper scripts, scripts in alternative format for supertitles, and other specialised materials upon request. Please contact your Licensing agent for more details.
Also, for blind or visually impaired actors and theatremakers, audio playback is available for many Concord Theatricals plays and musicals on Concord Reader+, our interactive ePlay Reader service.
Our team are currently exploring ways to expand our available resources for actors and audiences with disabilities. If you have ideas or suggestions, we’d love to hear from you!
Please email us, with the subject line of “Access Resources”, at [email protected].
Are there other organisations that provide resources and advice for performers and theatremakers with disabilities and access requirements?
There are many organisations and charities that offer support and guidance. Here are just a few:
- Access All Areas – a company that makes disruptive theatre and performance by learning disabled and autistic artists.
- Deafinitely Theatre – a producer of professional high-quality theatre for deaf and hearing audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
- Disability Arts Online – a UK-based broad resource offering a platform to creatives with disabilities.
- Extant – the UK’s leading professional performing arts company of visually impaired artists and theatre practitioners.
- Graeae Theatre Company – a theatre company that aims to champion diversity across the sector, and places Deaf and disabled artists centre stage.
- Mind the Gap – England’s leading learning disability performance and live arts company, offering a wide range of programmes.
- Stagetext – a registered charity that provides captioning and live subtitling services to theatres and other arts venues to make their activities accessible to people who are d/Deaf, deafened or hard of hearing.
- VocalEyes – a registered charity that aims to make cultural experiences more accessible to those with visual impairments.
Also, here’s a great article highlighting Disabled theatre companies and organisations across the UK.
What are your full terms and conditions of sale?
Our full terms and conditions are available here