About The Rep
We are your Rep. A place to be transported – to laugh and cry, wish and wonder. To forget the day you’ve just had and make an evening to remember.
We're all about the live experience...
You can find us performing live on our three stages here in Birmingham (The House, The Door and The Studio), in the West End, or touring globally. We might pop up on your doorstep in local streets, in schools and colleges, in shops, parks and city squares.
We’re all about the live experience – whether you’re coming to see a show, taking part in a workshop, or dropping in for a coffee.
We nurture artistic talent through new writing, directing, technical or casting programmes with young professionals and up-and-coming names. We also work with partners across the UK and internationally on new productions and community projects. While results can take years, we know it’s worth the wait as we believe diversity to be a strength in our society, with art and culture belonging to all. We are a theatre for everyone.
Looking out over Centenary Square’s fountains, work on our public foyers will soon be completed making us even more accessible. With our allies at the spectacular Library of Birmingham, our neighbours at Symphony Hall, our new friends at the University of Birmingham Exchange plus the vast social and commercial whirl of Paradise and Brindleyplace, there’s never been a better time to visit.
Our Greatest Hits
You can discover more here but we’ve actually been The Rep for over a century, founded by Sir Barry Jackson as a producing theatre to originate and create new shows from scratch right here in the city. It was pioneering stuff back then and remains so today. Moving from Station Street to our Centenary Square base in 1971, we’ve been newly minted for each generation, creating and sharing stories that begin with Brummies and echo around the world.
Our greatest hits? Well, that’s a matter of taste, but some great examples would include East Is East which we premiered in 1996 and welcomed back this season. Millions have enjoyed our production of The Snowman, based on the Raymond Briggs classic, which has played almost non-stop around the world. Our production of One Love, the Bob Marley Musical, gained great acclaim. And just a few years ago we exclusively partnered with the National Theatre for Jeremy Deller’s We’re Here Because We’re Here, a poignant piece of community art that created international headlines 100 years after the Battle of the Somme. We’re currently building many new partnerships including ‘Sky Comedy Rep’ with Sky Studios to discover and develop new regional comedy writing talent from across the UK, tackling under-representation.