On the day it announced its coming season, Birmingham Repertory Theatre has launched a campaign to raise £1m over three years to protect and develop its future.
The autumn/winter season includes world premières of Nativity! The Musical, Douglas Maxwell’s latest play The Whip Hand and a new commission from Birmingham writer Steven Camden (aka Polarbear), I Knew You.
It opens with the National Theatre’s acclaimed production of Jane Eyre, and features a revival of Duet For One starring Jemma Redgrave and Oliver Cotton, plus a new Christmas spectacular, The Hundred And One Dalmatians.
Artistic director Roxana Silbert said its appeal, REP First, was needed to ensure the sustainability of The REP for future generations.
“One of the things that makes me proud of The REP is our pioneering spirit; our burning commitment to secure the theatre for future audiences and artists,” she said.
“That’s what inspired us to embark upon an ambitious fundraising campaign. This money will allow us to continue to support new work, new artistic talent and grow new audiences.
“Our autumn season contains many great examples of the work that REP First will support: Nativity! The Musical, The Whip Hand, I Knew You and three outstanding plays by first-time writers.
“Elsewhere, I’m proud that audiences beyond Birmingham will get to see three outstanding REP productions on tour. What Shadows, Chris Hannan’s play about Enoch Powell featuring Ian McDiarmid, will enjoy runs in Edinburgh and London; Looking For John, Tony Timberlake’s tribute to Olympic Gold medallist, John Curry, runs for a month at the Edinburgh Fringe and The Snowman celebrates its 20thanniversary in the West End as well touring across the UK.”
The season opens in September with the National Theatre’s critically-acclaimed production of Jane Eyre (4 to 16 September). Director Sally Cookson’s new adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s masterpiece comes to The REP during the 170th anniversary year of when Jane Eyre was first published.
Two of Britain’s most respected actors, Jemma Redgrave and Oliver Cotton, star in Duet for One by Tom Kempinski (22 September to 7 October), a psychological drama about a brilliant concert violinist who is forced to re-evaluate her life when stuck down by an unforeseen tragedy. Kempinski’s play premièred in 1980 and enjoyed successful runs in the West End and on Broadway. This revival is directed by Robin Lefevre with design by Olivier award-winning, Lez Brotherston.
Nativity! The Musical (20 October to 12 November), a feel-good family comedy, has been adapted for the stage by Debbie Isitt, who also adapts The Hundred and One Dalmatians (30 November to 13 January). The production will be directed by The REP’s associate director Tessa Walker following her record-breaking 2015 production of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, and features puppets and new music.
Following acclaimed productions of The King’s Speech and Single Spies, The REP joins forces with Chichester Festival Theatre again for a revival of Terence Rattigan’s The Winslow Boy (21 February to 3 March).
The Whip Hand (5 to 16 September) is an explosive new play about power, privilege, blood ties and our inescapable past. I Knew You (29 September to 7 October) starring Lorna Laidlaw looks at family dynamics and asks if we can really escape from our past.
Local writers, directors and artists nurtured by The REP feature throughout the autumn season including three new works by REP Foundry artists: A Dangerous Woman (21 to 23 September) about challenging conformity and culture by Manjeet Mann; Baby Daddy (2 to 4 October), a frank and humorous look at single parenting, written and performed by Elinor Colman; and Sorry (9 to 11 November), a highly charged trilogy of monologues exploring life for millennials, by Susie Sillett. Strictly Arts’ Freeman (9 and 10 October) is inspired by the 19th century story of American William Freeman who was the first person to raise ‘insanity’ as a defence in a trial.
Mental health comes under the spotlight once again with the return of the award-winning biennial Bedlam: The Festival of Divine Madness (16 to 28 October). The REP, mac and Sampad in association with Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust demonstrate how the arts can play an important role in raising awareness as well as promoting recovery and wellbeing.
The season welcomes a wide-range of touring shows that explore theatrical form, including the circus-based As A Tiger In The Jungle (22 to 23 September) and Manfred Karge’s Man to Man (26 to 30 September) about a woman forced to adopt the identity of her dead husband in Nazi Germany.
Music Theatre Wales returns in October with a new opera, The Golden Dragon (3 October), a compelling fable of modern life by Peter Eötvös based on the play by Roland Schimmelpfennig.
The REP will collaborate with Birmingham’s Fierce Festival to present the world première of Notorious (20 and 21 October), an examination of pop culture’s take on the ‘female monster’, and with SHOUT Festival of Queer Arts and Culture to present And The Rest of Me Floats (13 and 14 November) by Outbox Theatre and a reimagining of the Greek legend Medea (17 and 18 November) directed and translated by Neil Bartlett.