Introducing our new Artistic Director, Joe Murphy

New Artistic Director Joe Murphy is determined to ensure The Rep speaks to everyone in the city.

We use our audience knowledge, our work within communities and education, and our work with local artists. All of that feeds into the main programme and the decisions that we make for the work that ultimately gets presented to audiences and is the lifeblood of the theatre.”

Joe is keen The Rep reflects the rich cultural and social diversity of Birmingham.

We can say some shows will be about particular communities, other shows will transcend particularity. Some shows will ask you to look inwards to your experience, some shows will ask you to look outwards at others’ experience, some shows will give dignity to your life by showing it on stage, other shows will give dignity to other people’s lives by showing them on stage. You might see yourself represented or you might walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.

“So what we hope across a year, or a season, or a five or ten year premiership is to be able to invest in all those distinct flavours and show that, while not every show will be about you, at least one show will be about you – and that should let you know that this building is speaking to you.”

To ensure that breadth, the programme will include shows created in Birmingham and beyond…

We want to bring the creative centre of gravity back into the building,

“There is the idea of a local theatre that has a global reach so it exists in its community but reaches for something universal and broad. That allows us to give a distinctive flavour and then I think the received programme allows us to broaden that.

“The Rep is hugely respected within the industry and has some absolutely crucial co-producing partners and that will form a major part of what we are doing. There are important artistic and cultural benefits of co-production. Everyone’s work gets better if the relationship is good because we exchange ideas, we see how different people are doing things and we have different perspectives on the work we are doing.

Co-productions also mean more people see a work in more places. And the more we can demonstrate how fantastic a night out theatre can give you, and the benefits of that live experience, then the better for everybody.”