Birmingham REP is asking local people to recall their treasured memories of the theatre as part of plans to mark its 100th birthday in February.
Staff and volunteers from the REP will be collecting the memories in Centenary Square during the Christmas season.
REP100, a project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, will bring to life 100 years of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company.
There will be a new online archive, which will feature photos, posters and programmes from past productions and also audio memories from audiences, actors, directors and playwrights.
Project manager Jenny Smith explains, “REP100 is very much about bringing our heritage to life and so, as part of our new digital archive, we’re asking audiences, actors, directors and previous employees to tell us their memories which will create a new oral history archive.
“They may remember the first production at the new REP on Broad Street in the ‘70s or have seen a star of the future at the Old REP on Station Street, our original home. If they have a story we want to hear it.”
The REP’s executive director Stuart Rogers has already shared his memories.
“My relationship with the REP began in 1969 when I went to see Richard Chamberlain in Hamlet. From that moment I was hooked on theatre and returned shortly after to see Ben Jonson's Volpone and a wide range of late-night, experimental theatre that the company was producing at that time.”
The REP 100 caravan will be in Centenary Square, next to Baskerville House, as part of Birmingham Christmas market, every Friday and Saturday until 22 December.
Anyone who cannot make it to the REP100 caravan but has a story to tell should go to www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/mystory or call 0121 245 2065.