Artistic Director, Roxana Silbert, Announces Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s Exciting 2018 Autumn and Winter Season

Roxana Silbert has today announced plans for the theatre's 2018 Autumn and Winter season. Speaking of the forthcoming programme, Roxana said:

“It is with enormous pleasure that we announce our new season for Autumn and Winter 2018.  New work is the life blood of theatre and The REP is honoured to be working with the best writers of their generation with 11 new plays across our three stages of which six will be premièring at The REP.

 “I'm particularly proud that this season both Ian Rankin and Alice Sebold have entrusted us with bringing their stories to life in Birmingham.

“Championing and empowering a diverse range of voices is in The REP's DNA and as always I'm thrilled with the number of female writers in our season – Rona Munro, Bryony Lavery, Penelope Skinner, Anna Jordan, Selina Thompson, Janice Connolly , Ko Sun Duck and Katori Hall.

“We also announce today, our continued commitment to offering affordable, accessible tickets to young people by making available 1000 tickets at £5 for 16- 30 year olds. Alongside this, inspiring and teaching through drama and creativity is more important than ever and in the Autumn The REP drives this further forward by being in schools across Birmingham every single day of the academic year.

“Finally, in celebrating the NHS At 70 we will be inviting all NHS workers at our local City and Sandwell Hospitals a 70% discount on shows during the Autumn season, plus members of the public can nominate an NHS worker to receive tickets for them and their families to see The Wizard of Oz at Christmas.”

The first world première of the season is Rebus: Long Shadows, the latest story in Ian Rankin's legendary detective series which will be told exclusively on stage.

Ian Rankin said:

"I've long wanted to see John Rebus on a theatre stage, and it was such a privilege to work with Rona Munro in fashioning a brand new story that could best be told 'in the flesh'.  Having lived with Rebus for over thirty years, I know that he has cast many long shadows, but this time those same shadows threaten to engulf him in a story that is tense, gripping, deep and thoughtful.  I hope audiences will agree!"

Playwright Rona Munro said:

“Adapting one of the most iconic characters in detective fiction was both daunting and exhilarating. It was a collaborative process that completely depended on Ian Rankin's generosity in sharing the man he made and knows so well. We hope that audiences who also know Rebus will see him live, and that audiences who've never met the man are in for an exciting introduction.”

A brand new staging of The Messiah starring Hugh Dennis, Lesley Garrett and John Marquez will open at The REP ahead of a UK tour and West End run.

Pop Music is the hotly awaited new play from Bruntwood Prize winner, Anna Jordan, directed by James Grieve. Alongside a national tour, Pop Music will be offered to local community venues in areas of low cultural engagement in Birmingham, free of charge, as part of The REP's ongoing commitment to great art for all.

All You Need Is LSD is an exhilarating and original comedy by one of the UK's finest playwrights, Leo Butler. The drugs debate is one that won't go away and in Leo's unique part history and part wild fantasy play he jumps down the rabbit-hole of a medical trial in search of enlightenment.

Local treasure and extraordinary comedienne, Janice Connolly collaborates with brilliant puppeteer, Michael Crouch and REP Associate Director, Daniel Bailey. They find themselves trapped amongst objects and clutter in the world premiere of Stuff.

City lives, ambition and financial inequality are scrutinised in The Capital, a new production and world première from Stan's Cafe.

Two fifteen year olds from opposite sides of the world find themselves adrift in a mysterious space, floating like two polar bears on melting icebergs in Orange Polar Bear, a new bi-lingual play by UK playwright Evan Placey and Korean playwright, Ko Sun Duck.

Penelope Skinner's elegantly mysterious new play Meek comes to The REP following its première at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Skinner's urgent play is a searing evocation of fraught times; a haunting vision of ruthless authoritarianism, tense friendships and one woman's determination not to be broken.

Elsewhere in the season are the previously announced The Comedy About A Bank Robbery; Bryony Lavery's adaptation of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones and The Wizard of Oz. January 2019 sees the return of the enchanting live stage show of The Snowman 25 years after it first came to life at The REP.

Productions visiting The REP include Ian Hislop and Nick Newman's The Wipers Times; Selina Thompson's Salt; Oladipo Agboluage's New Nigerians; Lisa Hammond and Rachel Spence's Still No Idea; imitating the dog's retelling of Joseph Conrad's classic, Heart of Darkness and Katori Hall's The Mountaintop.

Priority booking is now open to members with general booking opening on Monday 16 April.