Birmingham Repertory Theatre - Upcoming events

Spring Hill Stories

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

The users of Springhill Library are giving some stories back.

26 May 2012

Springhill Library £3 (£2 concessions)

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Ticket Information: Tickets cost £3 (£2 concessions)

Mailer Excerpt: An imaginative journey for children and families

Director: Gwenda Hughes

On the corner of a very big, uninteresting roundabout, there sits a very small, interesting library. And in this interesting library are hundreds and thousands of stories. Stories about good times and bad times, about the old times and times yet to come. But, nowhere, in any book, on any shelf, is there a story about the library itself… until now!

After more than 100 years of gifting stories to its book-borrowers, the book-borrowers are giving some stories back. With the help of award-winning storyteller, Peter Chand, toddlers and mums, local primary school children and an over 60s reading-group have been sharing and creating their own stories for you to discover in the library.

Join the Spring Hill Story Seekers for an imaginative journey around one of Birmingham’s most iconic community libraries.

Springhill Stories is part of Neighbourhood REP – a project which sees The REP bringing theatre to six local libraries across the city.

The Infernal Comedy

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000

Starring John Malkovich

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Ticket Information: Tickets £30-40

John Malkovich stars in a stage play for baroque orchestra, singers and actor, based on the real-life story of convicted serial killer Jack Unterweger. Malkovich’s monologues journey through the life and mind of this notorious Viennese womaniser, writer and murderer, illustrated with music embodying joy, hatred, love, grief, and desire. Sometimes darkly comic, sometimes bleakly brutal, it’s a fascinating insight into the twisted mind of, as Malkovich says, “a bad, bad guy.”

Written by Michael Sturminger
Based on an idea by Birgit Hutter and Martin Haselbock
Music concept and conductor Martin Haselbock
Stage director Michael Sturminger
Costume designer Birgit Hutter
Wiener Akademie
Martin Haselbock conductor
John Malkovich actor
Louise Fribo soprano
Marie Arnet soprano

Music includes:
Vivaldi Aria Sposa son disprezzata
Beethoven Scene and Aria Ah, perfido
Haydn Scena di Berenice
Weber Scene and Aria Ah se Edmundo fosse l’uccisor!
Mozart Recitative, Aria and Cavatina Ah, lo previdi

Hip Hope Hero

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000

A stunning combination of dance, poetry, animation, music and puppets.

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Ticket Information: Tickets £7.50 adults, £4.50 children, £1.50 babes in arms

Guidance: At The Old Rep Theatre followed by a national tour. The show lasts for 50 minutes and is suitable for family audiences of ages 5 upwards. ,

The Hip Hope Hero knows the world’s biggest secret…that inside everyone lurks a hero, even a super hero!

Come and meet the Hip Hope Hero and soon your own unique and powerful inner hero will be released.

Moving Hands joined forces with South Africa’s got talent winner, deaf hip hop dancer Darren Rajbal and children across the world to create this new and exciting show which combines dance, animation, original music, poetry and some seriously cool puppets.

The Just Price Of Flowers

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000

"...and all the time your wealth and your garden will be growing more impressive."

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Ticket Information: Tickets £8-12 with concessions available.

A play about the 2008 financial collapse, set in 17th Century Netherlands, looking like a Rembrandt, featuring origami and paying homage to the great theatre maker Bertolt Brecht.

Tulips were imported into Europe in the early 17th Century at a time when merchants were generating wealth through trade. Collecting exotic items was a fashion. A passion developed for tulips, their price rose rapidly and created the possibility of making profit through speculative buying. For a brief time certain tulip bulbs were sold for prices equivalent to those of a house, or three years of a craftsman’s wage. In 1637 this financial bubble burst.

Using Tulipmania as its inspiration, The Just Price of Flowers finds the Van Leasings buying a tulip from Van Eek, using money borrowed from Van Hire. It follows them as they chase their dream of wealth through the growing complexities of futures trading, credit ratings, sub-primes, credit default swaps, and the horror of short selling.

This is a simple, playful production, which explains the complexities of high finance with great humour, in a remarkably straightforward way, whilst steadily setting you up for the inevitable heartbreaking finale. There are also two songs and an origami peacock.

Birmingham-based Stan’s Cafe has been devising thoughtful and engaging theatre since 1991. Their consistently fresh and inventive approach has taken them to the forefront of contemporary European theatre and led to them performing worldwide to both popular and critical acclaim.

Gargantua

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000

A two year pregnancy leads to an unusual baby

18 - 19 June

Tickets £5 (£3 concessions)

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Ticket Information: Tickets £5 (£3 concessions)

Mailer Excerpt: A two year pregnancy leads to an unusual baby. Beware Gargantua!

Director: Daniel Tyler

Playwright: Carl Gross

A two year pregnancy leads to an unusual baby, a giant that’s growing more every second. Although loved by his parents, the Government and military see an opportunity for world domination. Beware Gargantua!

Harborne Herald

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Students from Harborne Academy are working with Harborne Local History Group to bring the city’s archive to life.

20 & 21 June 2012

Harborne Academy £3 (£2 concessions)

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Ticket Information: Tickets cost £3 (£2 concessions)

Mailer Excerpt: Students from Harborne Academy bring a day in Victorian Harborne to life.

Director: Tom Saunders

Idiot that I was to throw myself away upon a man who can only be called a hero and gentleman upon the stage

December 2nd, 1882. Looking at the front page of the Harborne Herald on this day in history might lead you to believe that Harborne was a quiet and ordinary place with its reports of ladies slipping on the ice and Saturday evening concerts. But in fact on that day there was more going on than meets the eye.

With the help of Harborne Library’s Local History group and playwright Arzhang Pezhman, students of Harborne Academy delve into Harborne’s past to write and perform an original play inspired by stories and letters published in the Harborne Herald.

The Harborne Herald is part of Neighbourhood REP – a project which sees The REP bringing theatre to six local libraries across the city.

The Comedy of Errors

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000

Shakespeare's classic comedy set in an absurd Olympic Games

1 July 2pm and 6.30pm

£5 (£3 concessions)

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Ticket Information: Tickets £5 with concessions available

Mailer Excerpt: Shakespeare's classic comedy set in an absurd Olympic Games

Director: Daniel Tyler

Playwright: William Shakespeare

Set in the world of an absurd Olympic Games, the coming together of different cultures, odd athletic events and gold medal-crazed characters (plus some bizarre warm-up routines) ensure havoc ensues…

The Witches' Promise

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Inspired by remarkable historical events that took place in medieval Weoley Castle.

7 - 15 July 2012

Weoley Castle Ruins £3 (£2 concessions)

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Ticket Information: Tickets cost £3 (£2 concessions)

Mailer Excerpt: Inspired by remarkable events that took place in medieval Weoley Castle.

Director: Peter Cann

Playwright: Stephanie Dale

By the time 30 dawns pass you must bury what is precious, for unless you do, hell will come to us all…

During the lavish wedding of wealthy baron, John De Somery’s sister, five witches appear and make a terrifying prediction of death and despair falling across 14th century Weoley Castle, This prophesy is closely followed by failing crops, devastating rainfall, and a widespread plague amongst cattle. Very soon hunger forces villagers to feed on decomposing animal carcases, but just how far will desperation take them and why are mothers being driven to hiding their children?

Inspired by remarkable historical events that took place in and around the ancient landmark, The Witches’ Promise will be performed in the medieval ruins of Weoley Castle.

This production will have a Community Cast

Kidnapping Cameron

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000

"If you want to see the Prime Minister alive again, you'd better do what I say!"

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Ticket Information: Tickets £7 with concessions available.

“If you want to see the Prime Minister alive again, you’d better do what I say!”

If you’re a disillusioned teenager and you feel you have no chance of getting a place at University, a job when you leave school or will ever be able to afford to buy a house, there’s not a lot you can do about it is there?

It’s okay, never fear, thirteen year old Lucy has a plan. She’s going to kidnap the Prime Minister and hold the whole government to ransom until they fix all the problems. That should do the trick.
Sneaking into 10 Downing Street, disguised as a sick child who dreams of meeting the PM, Lucy carries out her unimaginable, dastardly plan. But has she taken it all a bit too far and can her friends help her find a better way to make a difference?

Kidnapping Cameron is a hilariously funny play that takes a serious look at the role young people can play in democracy and deciding their own future in today’s uncertain times.

The play has been commissioned for and developed with members of The Young REP, The REP’s youth theatre.

Forests

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the World Shakespeare Festival

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Ticket Information: Tickets £8-28 with concessions available.

Mailer Excerpt: Part of the World Shakespeare Festival

“Let the forest judge” – A new Shakespearean odyssey imagined by one of Europe’s most prominent theatre directors, Calixto Bieito.

Commissioned as part of the World Shakespeare Festival 2012, Forests uses original verse from Shakespeare’s forest and heath scenes to take audiences on an odyssey from the calmness of paradise to the uncertainties of purgatory and finally into the flames of hell.

Starting in As You Like It‘s forest of Arden, stopping off in the moving trees of Macbeth‘s Birnan woods and finishing in the bare wilderness of King Lears cliffs of Dover, this new production will be a spellbinding, vivid and imaginative theatrical journey.

Bieito is no stranger to UK audiences having previously directed Hamlet and Celestina for The REP and Edinburgh International Festival and also Macbeth at the Barbican. His passionate and radical interpretations of classics have stimulated controversy and earned him critical acclaim.

With a great cast led by Catalan actors Josep Maria Pou, Roser Cami and English actor George Costigan.

Part of the World Shakespeare Festival, which is produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company for London 2012 Festival.

Performed in Catalan and English with surtitles

“Hamlet in the raw. Bieito is always controversial but this savage reworking of Shakespeare is sheer genius… the reworking of the text is thrillingly radical, yet deeply respectful of the original play.“
The Scotsman on Hamlet

Our Country's Good

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000

The Olivier Award-winning play

25 - 29 September 2012

Tickets from £10

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Mailer Excerpt: The Olivier Award-winning play

Guidance: Contains violence and strong language

Director: Max Stafford-Clark

Playwright: Timberlake Wertenbaker

The Olivier Award-winning play. Australia, 1789. An ambitious young lieutenant, Ralph Clark, is set the task of directing newly arrived convicts in the Restoration comedy The Recruiting Officer, in celebration of the King’s birthday. But with a dispirited cast, just two copies of the script, opposition from sadistic officers, a leading lady who faces being hanged, and Ralph’s uncontrollable passion for one of his convict players, Australia’s first theatre production is in trouble from the start.

A true story of the first convict colony, Our Country’s Good is an extraordinary play about the value of the theatre and the redemptive power of art. It is based on The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally who also wrote Schindler’s Ark. Legendary theatre director Max Stafford-Clark directed the premiere production at the Royal Court Theatre in 1988. It transferred to the West End and Broadway, winning the Olivier Award for Play of the Year and the New York Drama Circle Award for Best Foreign Play. This, his brand new production, tours to Birmingham before playing in the opening season of London’s new St James Theatre.

The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000

A long distance race. Real time.

2 - 6 October 2012

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Mailer Excerpt: A long distance race. Real time.

Guidance: Contains strong language

Director: Marcus Romer

Playwright: Roy Williams

A long distance race. Real time. Follow one runner, alone with his thoughts.

Colin is defiant. A young rebel, inhabiting the no-man’s land of detention centres and young offenders’ institutes, as his steady running rhythm transports him over a harsh frost bitten earth.

Set in 2012, the play exposes the beating heart of a nation, still broken and still divided across class lines. Using 3D visuals incorporated into an exciting design, we follow Colin’s race, unpicking his thoughts and becoming part of his journey.

Adapted by BAFTA winning and Olivier Award nominated playwright Roy Williams OBE (Sucker Punch, Fallout, Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads), this gritty adaptation of Alan Sillitoe’s classic text hits the ground running; unlocking the biting realism of the original book while placing the drama firmly in a contemporary frame.

Cowboy Baby

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000

A terrific western yarn for children

5 & 6 October 2012

Tickets £7.50 adults, £4.50 children and £1.50 babes in arms.

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Family Friendly

Ticket Information: Tickets £7.50 adults, £4.50 children and £1.50 babes in arms , ,Stay behind after the show for our special Cowboy Baby workshop ... suitable for all cowboys and cowgirls and their older ranch-hands!

Mailer Excerpt: A terrific western yarn for children

Guidance: Suitable for under sevens

It’s time for bed in the wild wild west. But Cowboy Baby ain’t tired. No sirree! There’s still loads of time to play with Texas Ted, Denver Dog and Hank the Horse. If only Cowboy Baby can find ‘em, before Sheriff Pa finds him first!

A gold award winner of the Smarties Children’s Book Prize, Cowboy Baby is not only a terrific western yarn for children, but also a beautiful story about love and friendship. So expect twirlin’ lassos, rattlin’ rattlesnakes, howlin’ coyotes and prickly cacti, with plenty of fun, adventure, songs and even puppetry around the old campfire. Yes sirree!

Sue Heap’s wonderfully original and delightful story for children has now been adapted for the stage as the inaugural
production for Catfoot, a new touring company based in rural Nottinghamshire.

Reviews

“A really lovely play for families… highly recommended”
Lowdham Book Festival

The Plough And The Stars

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000

Sean O'Casey's classic play set during Ireland's 1916 Easter Rising

9 - 13 October 2012

Tickets from £10

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Mailer Excerpt: Sean O'Casey's classic play set during Ireland's 1916 Easter Rising

Director: Wayne Jordan

Playwright: Sean O'Casey

Set in a tenement house, against the backdrop of the Easter Rising in 1916, The Plough and the Stars is both an intimate play about the lives of ordinary people and an epic play about ideals and the birth of our nation.

Amidst the tumult of political upheaval, Jack and Nora Clitheroe are ‘like two turtle doves always billing and cooing’, much to the ridicule of their bustling neighbours. But when Ireland calls, Jack must choose between love for his wife and duty to his country.

Heartbreaking, disturbing and very funny, The Plough and The Stars is an historic play that every generation needs
to see.

Director Wayne Jordan brings the fresh perspective of a new generation to this iconic play.

Reviews

“Director Jordan knows how to make a classic feel invigorating again”
The Irish Times

“superb… compelling performances… outstanding production”
Irish Examiner

This production is supported by Culture Ireland and the Arts Council of Ireland.

The Egg

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000

An adventure for two madcap birds

18 to 20 October 2012

Tickets £7.50 adults, £4.50 children and £1.50 babes in arms.

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Ticket Information: Tickets £7.50 adults, £4.50 children and £1.50 babes in arms.

Mailer Excerpt: An adventure for two madcap birds

Guidance: Suitable for ages 3 and up

Egg is all about magic and music and… an egg.

The delightful story unfolds on a tiny, rustic set, exquisitely constructed out of twigs, feathers and shell. Join these madcap birds on an adventure of a lifetime as they grapple with growing up and giving in to their natural instincts to take flight. And then of course they meet an egg!

Reviews

“There’s a great dollop of Cahoots magic which is performed without words but with immense clarity and precision.”
Belfast Telegraph

Eat!

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000

Feasting, fasting, famine and food for thought

18 - 27 October 2012

Tickets £12

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Mailer Excerpt: Feasting, fasting, famine and food for thought

Director: Frances Land & Steve Johnson

Playwright: Rochi Rampal

“You can eat an apple from Chernobyl, but…”

We take food for granted; we diet, overindulge, grab it on the go, but rarely do we delve into its stories. From famine to hunger strike, persecution to celebration, anorexia to obesity, food and eating has an important place in historical events, the present news and our own emotional memories.

This year a team of researchers, writers, actors and designers, The REP, and Black Country Touring will cook up a new piece of drama based on personal accounts of what, when and how we eat and why it matters. We don’t know
where the stories will take us, but if you saw Behna or The Cornershop you’ll know to expect a unique, intimate and tasty theatre experience.

Have you had an eating experience that meant more than the food you ate? Has food played a particularly important part in your life? Share your story and read ours about apples in Chernobyl. It’ll inspire our creative process and might even feature in the show!

Wounded

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Two soldiers, a century apart...

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1917: wounded soldiers injured in the Great War are nursed in a Birmingham hospital.

Now times have changed and ninety four years on the injured soldier being treated in the same military hospital is Kate Mulligan, a Combat Medical Technician. Wracked with guilt that she caused her own injuries and the life threatening injuries of another soldier who tried to save her, Kate begins to experience strange goings on. Perhaps it’s the shock or maybe, just maybe Kate really can see and hear Private Alfred Seddon.

The two soldiers, a century apart, remember and revisit their experiences, allowing them to explore their trauma and help each other recover. Emotional, heartfelt and intriguing, Wounded is a ghostly story, of two people coping with the aftermath of trauma.

As part of The REP’s offsite programme for 2012, Wounded will be performed at the Territorial Army Field Hospital in Kings Heath, providing audiences with an unbelievably authentic experience of war time care and history unlike any other theatrical experience.

An amazing site-specific piece of theatre for any audience member, the play has been written with young people in mind and is an ideal learning tool for key stage four students.

Wounded has been commissioned by the Wellcome Trust Arts Awards Engaging Science grants programme, which funds projects that explore biomedical science and its social contexts.

Grimm Tales

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000

The stories of the Brothers Grimm

3 November 2012

Tickets £7.50 adults, £4.50 children and £1.50 babes in arms.

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Ticket Information: Tickets £7.50 adults, £4.50 children and £1.50 babes in arms

Mailer Excerpt: The stories of the Brothers Grimm

Guidance: Suitable for ages 3 and up

In the dead of night, the moon is hiding behind a cloud, and deep in the dark, dark forest two children are lost, scared and hungry…

How are we ever going to find our way out of this enormous forest?

A young girl, exhausted with work and deprived of a bed, lies down in the dirty ashes. Her stepsisters with hearts as ugly as thorns snigger at her.

Shake your leaves and branches, little tree,
Shower gold and silver down on me.

The deliciously scary and thrillingly dramatic stories of the Brothers Grimm are brought to life in a imaginative new production by internationally acclaimed Theatr Iolo.

Includes Hansel and Gretel and the original version of Cinderella, there are sure to be classic stories you know, and several that you may not!

Dim Sum Nights

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000

Bite sized theatre served with delicious Dim Sum and tea

13 - 15 November 2012

Tickets £22 (includes buffet meal)

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Mailer Excerpt: Bite sized theatre served with delicious Dim Sum and tea

Treat yourself to some fresh new tasty theatre…

Do you like to see unusual new theatre?
Do you like Chinese food?

Then come and combine both in Yellow Earth’s unique new show.

Fresh, bite sized pieces of theatre by talented British East Asian writers will be served up complete with delicious Dim
Sum and tea.

From an unlikely friendship made over a wedding banquet feast to a family dinner party consumed with love guilt and
hunger, from a troubled man entering a quiet restaurant to young boy meets young girl, the wide range on the Dim Sum Nights menu provides something to suit every taste.

Come tickle your mind and your taste buds!

This site-specific theatre show takes place in a Chinese Restaurant.

Dim sum A range of light dishes often served with Chinese tea. The Cantonese phrase literally means “touch the heart” or “order to your heart’s content”.

The Wind In The Willows

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000

Kenneth Grahame's classic riverbank story

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Ticket Information: Tickets £9-28 (concessions available) , ,"Download the Group Bookings Form":http://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/files/downloads/2726/Group+Booking+Form+-+Christmas+2012.doc

Mailer Excerpt: Kenneth Grahame's classic riverbank story

Playwright: Alan Bennett

Poop Poop! Watch out, watch out Toad’s about!

The charming tale of Ratty, Mole, Badger and Toad comes alive this Christmas as The REP heads downstream to the riverbank and embarks on a glorious adventure that leads to Toad Hall, to the perilous Wild Wood and finally to battle!

Featuring his own brand of nostalgia and comedy, Alan Bennett brings Kenneth Grahame’s classic riverbank story to life. With music and merriment, The Wind in The Willows will keep you entertained and enthralled, no matter what your age.

“Alan Bennett’s stage adaptation of The Wind in the Willows has become a classic in its own right.”
The Guardian

“a delightful evening, a treat for anyone”
The Times