Old Rep to stage women-led theatre festival

Published: 31 May 2023
Reporter: Steve Orme

“Huge undertaking”: Hysteria festival

Birmingham venue the Old Rep is to stage Hysteria, a women-led theatre and arts festival “celebrating the diverse and powerful voices of female-identifying playwrights, directors, actors, creatives and designers”.

The festival will showcase new works by creatives from all over the UK and further afield. It aims to highlight the contributions of women to the theatre industry and to promote gender equality and inclusivity in all aspects of the arts.

Darren Knapton, theatre manager of the Old Rep Theatre, said, “having seen so much inspirational and though-provoking women-led theatre since being in Birmingham, it’s a pleasure to be involved with Hysteria. For the Old Rep Theatre to be hosting a professional arts festival is a huge undertaking and we can’t wait to get started.”

The festival team consists of lead producer Elena Roselli, producers Alice Orlik, Prabjot Sandhu and Emma Carter, Emma Ferguson who looks after marketing and sales and a wider team located at the Old Rep Theatre and Birmingham Ormiston Academy Trust.

Roselli, from the University of Bologna in Italy, said, “I’m looking forward to experience the inner workings of an arts festival and working with many amazing performers in our soon-to-be-announced line-up.”

Hysteria will take place at the Old Rep Theatre from Saturday 22 until Sunday 30 July. The provisional line-up for the festival will be released at a later date.

The Old Rep occupies a unique place in theatre history as Britain’s first purpose-built repertory theatre. Opened in 1913, the Old Rep was the original home of the Birmingham Repertory Company led by Sir Barry Jackson which moved to a new site on Broad Street in 1971.

Since 2014, the Old Rep has been operated and managed by the Birmingham Ormiston Academy (BOA) Group.

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