Good neighbours

Since the beginning of 2011 Birmingham Repertory Theatre, or The REP as we are affectionately known, has been closed while we undergo development as part of the new flagship Library of Birmingham, which is being built in the city’s iconic Centenary Square and will see the two cultural venues sharing public spaces and a new purpose-built 300-seat studio-theatre.

But while the theatre building is closed, the REP lives on, producing theatre off-site in traditional and non-traditional venues across the city. Over the next two years, while The REP is working off-site, we are undertaking an ambitious project, ‘Neighbourhood REP’, that sees us joining forces with Birmingham City Council’s Library and Archive Services to take a range of theatre projects to six local libraries across the city.

Libraries and theatres share a lot in common and the future partnership, through a marriage of the written and spoken word, aims to enable a wide range of unique artistic activity. Both organisations share a commitment to encourage and develop new writing and both use writing and performance as tools for community engagement. So it makes sense to work together to develop and create a unique programme of work that builds upon and extends the natural strength of each organisation. With Neighbourhood REP we wanted to explore how we could engage with each other’s audiences collaboratively and exploit the resources available to a professional producing theatre and a leading library and archive service.

Research and development for the project began in 2009 with members of The REP’s Artistic, Learning & Participation and Community Engagement teams exploring the possibilities of such a project with the city’s 51 community libraries. Meetings and sharing of ideas took place with Community Librarians, site-visits to libraries happened and funding applications were made. The final six libraries were self-elected: all have a demographic that both parties are seeking to develop and have a cultural stimulus within their community that has literary or dramatic potential. The individual projects range from Tolkien-inspired ‘audio-walks’ to historical tales in the ruins of a medieval castle; site-specific theatre inspired by the atmosphere and history of a Grade II listed library building to a new piece of theatre for 0-5 year olds created by ideas from library users. All projects will be inspired by the local people, history and community of the libraries and will give library users the chance to get involved through playwriting, storytelling, performing or simply enjoying a performance.

We’ve been fortunate to have secured funding from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation which has enabled us to the deliver the project. Despite government cuts to public services and the threat of library closures across the country we’ve been lucky that the six libraries we will be working with are safe from closure. The year ahead, however, will bring new challenges including the recruitment of 80 local people for a large-scale outdoor community production, and the encouragement of diverse groups of library users to work together on these collaborative projects.

What we hope to achieve through the project is to be able to explore and establish ways in which the theatre and the library can work collaboratively to extend reach, engage communities and develop a lasting and mutually creative relationship. Ultimately however this is a wonderful opportunity for communities city-wide to get more involved with libraries and the theatre in the run-up to the opening of the Library of Birmingham and newly developed REP in 2013.