Frequently asked questions

Have a question for our team? We have added our most frequently asked questions to this page. If your question is not answered below, please contact us.

Shop online
Delivery
Returns
Contact us

Products

We will certainly try our best! Please email us with the name of the title, the author and the edition, if known. The more information you can share, the more likely it is we can find the exact title you are after.

Once we have this information, our Book Buyer will be able to confirm if it is possible to get this title in store for you.

We will be in touch to let you know either way, and if it is possible we will provide further information on payment and delivery.

We are pleased to hear you've found a product in our shop that you love.

Please email us with a description or name of the product you've seen in our shop.

Once we have this information, we can add the item to our online shop and send you over a link to the product listing for you to place your order.

Please note, there may be a few exceptions to what we can sell online and we cannot always guarantee we still have a product in stock. If this applies to your order, we will let you know.

We are sorry that the product you would like to purchase is out of stock.

If you let us know what the item is, we will get in touch with an update on if it will be restocked.

If it's a particular book or playtext, we may be able to order this in for you.

Print on demand

Print-on-demand prints are handmade to order in Sussex by our partner King and McGaw. They are responsible for producing and shipping your order.

Print-on-demand titles are books or playtexts that are printed to order by the publisher. When you place an order for one, we specially request it from the publisher. We are responsible for fulfilling your order.

Print-on-demand prints take up to four weeks for prints to be created and sent.

Print-on-demand titles lead time is two–four weeks.

You will receive a shipping notification via email once your order is on its way to you.

Please see our delivery information page for more information.

Print-on-demand prints will always arrive separately to any other items. This is because they are handmade in Sussex and shipped to you directly from the studio.

Print-on-demand titles will also be shipped separately, unless we have communicated with you about alternative shipping.

This means that you will receive your order in multiple deliveries and not all items at once. Where this is the case, our team will be in touch with you to update on individual shipping dates.

Find out more information about our standard delivery times here.

Unfortunately, we cannot offer a refund on print on demand items. Please see our terms and conditions for further information.

If there is a problem with your order or it has arrived damaged, please let us know as soon as possible via email bookshop@nationaltheatre.org.uk

Yes, please see our size guide here.

Please note, there may be slight variations in the sizes of each print due to the proportions of the original artwork.

If you would like further clarification on print sizes, we would recommend you contact us before placing your order.

Our print on demand prints are produced by hand by the King and McGaw team in Sussex.

Our print-on-demand prints are shipped directly from our partners King and McGaw in the UK.

All prints are shipped tracked.

You can see the cost of shipping for print on demand prints here.

If you have ordered a framed print, this will arrive pre-assembled with a card mount surrounding the printed image. You will not need to assemble the mount and print inside the frame yourself.

Unframed prints do not come with a mount or frame. We recommend waiting for the print(s) to arrive before purchasing your own frame(s) / mount(s), to ensure a perfect fit.

Orders

We currently accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Diners Club, Maestro, UnionPay, Bancontact, iDeal, Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal.

We are currently unable to take cash payments in our on-site bookshop.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the National Theatre switched to contactless payments following the public health advice.

Since this time, like many other venues, our business model and operations have had to adapt. Despite the World Health Organisation declaring the Covid health emergency as over, many organisations, including the National Theatre, are continuing to recover and face substantial ongoing financial challenges. With the handling and processing of cash comes significant associated costs, and we therefore need to carefully balance any decisions such as this with value for money, impact and our charitable aims and priorities.

Since the pandemic, we have invested significantly in making our core theatre offer more accessible for everyone and for now this continues to be a priority for us over customers being able to pay by cash at our outlets. We continue to hold this decision in review, as we appreciate this creates difficulties for some of our customers and appreciate your understanding. 

Yes, of course! At checkout, please use your address for billing and the recipient's for shipping. This will ensure the parcel is sent to the correct address.

You can also leave us an order note at checkout with any additional information.

Thank you very much for pre-ordering a title with us.

Each pre-order title on offer will have a different expected delivery date. We aim to update the product details with this as soon as possible. We would recommend checking to see if this information is available.

Once we have the title in stock, we will ship out all pre-orders without delay. You will be sent an email when your order has shipped. Please see our standard delivery times.

If in doubt, please contact us and our team will be in touch to provide further clarity.

We would recommend creating an account on our website.

Once logged into your account, you can select ‘Track Packages’. All your orders can be found here, alongside their dispatch and delivery status.   

You can also email us and a member of the team will be able to provide you with an order update.

If your order is yet to be dispatched, you should be able to amend your shipping address and certain order details, without having to contact us. You can do this via ‘Your Account’.

However, if you would like to check if it is possible to update your order, please do contact us as we are happy to help. 

Unfortunately, we cannot make changes to your order once it has been shipped. We recommend you contact us as soon as possible if you need to amend your order.

Subscriptions

We ship our monthly subscriptions at the start of each month.

Your first subscription will be sent at the start of the following month from when you placed your order. For example, if you place your subscription order in May, you will receive your first subscription at the start of June.

We currently only offer a one-time purchase plan for our subscriptions. This means that when purchasing one of our subscriptions, you pay the cost up-front.

We do not offer a pay-monthly subscription service.

We are sorry to hear that you are thinking of cancelling your subscription.

Unfortunately, our subscriptions are unable to be cancelled once we have processed your first month.

Our subscriptions last for 3, 6 or 12 months, depending on the length of subscription you have ordered.

If you have had a change of mind and we are yet to process your first month's subscription, we can offer you a full refund. Please get in contact with us as soon as possible.

What a lovely gift! Of course, we can send the subscription directly to the recipient each month.

Please input their address in the shipping address section at checkout.

If you would like to provide any additional information, please use the order notes section at checkout.

Our subscriptions do not auto-renew.

If you would like to continue your current subscription, you will need to repurchase this from us.

Delivery and returns

For products shipped from our shop, we have a few of delivery options available:

  • Royal Mail Second Class
  • Royal Mail Special Delivery
  • Parcel Force

The delivery cost varies depending on the order amount and service chosen.

Please see our delivery page for information on delivery costs and times.

We aim to ship your item within two working days. You will receive email confirmation once your order has shipped.   

Our standard delivery times vary slightly according to the delivery destination. For items which we have in stock at the shop, we aim to deliver within:  

UK: 2–5 working days  

Europe: 5–7 working days  

Rest of the world: 10–14 working days  

Please note, if your order contains print-on-demand prints or titles, certain clothing items or specialist books, these will be dispatched separately to the rest of your order. This means that you will receive your order in multiple deliveries and not all items at once. Where this is the case, our team will be in touch with you to update on shipping dates.

If in doubt, please contact us to check the status of your order. 

Yes, we can ship orders internationally.

Please see our delivery page for further information on costs and delivery times.

We only offer exchanges on incorrect or faulty items.

If a product from your order arrives damaged or is incorrect, we can exchange the product for you free of charge. Faulty items may only be exchanged for another of the same product.   

You can exchange the product in person at the National Theatre bookshop. Please note, we cannot always guarantee an item will be available in stock for an exchange. To avoid disappointment, please contact us to check stock levels for damaged/faulty items ahead of your visit. We may be able to order replacement stock for you if the product being exchanged is out of stock.   

You can return your item to us by post. Please contact the team before returning the item. The team can guide you through the exchange-by-post process.   

You can return your order to us within 28 days of purchase with a valid receipt.

This can be done in person at the National Theatre bookshop or via posting the item(s) back to us.

Our returns page explains in detail how the process works.

Please contact us if you need additional guidance on returning your order.

Unfortunately, we cannot offer a refund on any earrings unless they are faulty.

We also do not offer refunds on print-on-demand products, made-to-order customisable items or food products.

Once we have received the item(s) with the necessary paperwork we will proceed with issuing a refund or replacement. If you are eligible for a refund, we will process a full refund for your order. This includes the cost of delivering the item to you.

Please note, we do not refund the cost of return postage, unless your order was damaged or incorrect on arrival. If this is the case, please contact the team to coordinate the return.   

Once we have received the item(s) with the necessary paperwork we will proceed with refund/replacement. If you are eligible for a refund, we will process this within one to two weeks, but it may take an additional ten working days to appear in your account. Thank you for your patience. 

Please contact us if you have any additional questions about our refund process.

We are very sorry to hear that this is the case.

Please contact our team who will be able to help you resolve any problems with your order.