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Birmingham Rep Open Day - Sat 26 Feb 2022

Join us here at The Rep on Sat 26 Feb for a day of free activities for all the family that take you behind the scenes of Birmingham’s only producing theatre. From 10am-4pm, you can enjoy backstage tours, workshops, performances, technical demonstrations, heritage talks and the chance to purchase incredible garments in The Rep’s costume sale!

Find out more about what you can discover…

A photo of someone working in The Rep workshop.

Photo credit, Simon Hadley.

Backstage Tours

Join The Rep’s dedicated volunteers as they take you on a short backstage tour around Birmingham Rep’s fascinating theatre building. Learn about The Rep’s long theatrical history and take a peek at backstage spaces usually closed to the public including the huge workshop and paintshop where sets are created from scratch for Rep productions.

Costume Sale

Enjoy exclusive access to The Rep’s main stage with a rare chance to riffle through rails of fabulous items and outfits from our costume stores. Our renowned wardrobe department has been making costumes in our current building for 50 years and there’s so many gems to discover. With show stopping costumes and beautiful handmade pieces spanning a huge variety of styles, periods and characters as well as shoes and accessories, you really won’t want to miss it! When it’s gone it’s gone, so make sure you get there early to grab the best finds. All funds raised will go back towards supporting the charitable status of The Rep in providing theatre for everyone. Remember to think green and bring your own bags!

A photo of rails of costumes

Production and Technical Demonstrations

Find out backstage secrets with exclusive interactive demonstrations from The Rep’s leading Technical and Production team and experience how the magic of live theatre happens! Learn from our professionals in lighting, sound, costume, technical drawing, carpentry and stage management – an experience you won’t want to miss.

Interactive Workshops for Young People

Join The Rep’s renowned Creative Learning team for a series of four different workshops throughout the day.

For early years’ children, take a journey discovering all elements of travel inspired by our upcoming production of Coming To England plus a special interactive storytelling session for families.

For Key Stage 1 and 2 ages, join in a fun and fast-paced drama workshop exploring the story of Coming To England using a mixture of drama games and techniques.

The Young Rep’s Youth Board will also be leading drama skills workshops for 11-16 year olds. These workshops will include exploring duologues, greek choral work and exploring drama through games.

All workshops will have a sign-up sheet from 10am onwards with a limit of 25 participants per workshop so be sure to get signed up as soon as you arrive!

 

Heritage and History Talks

Delve into The Rep’s rich theatrical history with these fascinating talks hosted by The Rep’s volunteers. Find out more about Barry Jackson, founder of Birmingham Rep, discover the notable women who have pioneered in the world of theatre at The Rep throughout its 109 years and discover more about The Rep’s long association with Shakespeare – did you know the first-ever ‘modern-dress Shakespeare’ was a pioneering Rep production by Barry Jackson?  Finally, The Rep at War is an introduction to the theatre’s experiences of these critical periods of our history, find out how they kept the show carried on!

A photo of a man giving a tour. He is holding his arms out and is looking animated.

Shakespeare in the Foyer

Throughout the day, watch as Young Rep members aged 18-25 perform extracts from some of Shakespeare’s most notable works throughout our Foyer spaces.

With so much to discover, we recommend arriving early – our neighbours in The Library of Birmingham are also hosting their Open Day on the very same day, with more to enjoy and explore.

 

Raffle

Support The Rep by taking part in the Open Day Raffle! Prizes include 2x Family Tickets to Coming to England, and 2x Family tickets to Nativity! The Musical.

All ticket proceeds will support our Open House Appeal so not only will you be in with a chance of winning some fantastic prizes you’ll also be helping us raise vital funds to secure our future.

To enter text OPENDAY to 70215. Ticket price: £2 per entry (no limits on the number of entries).

Find out more about our Open House Appeal

Timetable

Backstage Tours

10.30am – 3.30pm, every half hour

 

The Foyer

10.00am – 4.00pm Script and Artwork Sale

 

The HOUSE

10.00am – 4.00pm Production Demonstrations and Costume Sale

 

The DOOR

10.30 – 11.30am Creative Learning Workshop for EYFS, led by Becky Reidy 

12.00pm – 1.30pm Creative Learning Workshop for KS1, led by Robert Beck

2.00pm – 3.30pm Creative Learning Workshop for KS2, led by Robert Beck

 

The Suites 

11.00am – 11.30pm History of The Rep Talks, led by volunteers

11.30am – 12.00pm Coming To England Storytelling for families, led by Becky Reidy

12.00 – 12.30pm History Of The Rep Talks, led by volunteers

1.00 – 1.30pm Drama Games for ages 8+, led by Youth Board

2.00 – 2.30pm History of The Rep Talks, led by volunteers

 

Library Rotunda

11.30am – 12.00pm Young Rep Shakespeare performance

12.30 – 1.00pm Young Rep Shakespeare performance 

1.30 – 2.00pm Young Rep Shakespeare performance

2.30 – 3.00pm Young Rep Shakespeare performance