A change of scenery

In January 2011 Birmingham Repertory Theatre took the posters down, packed up the costumes, de-rigged the lights and locked the stage door. It was to be the start of a two and a half year journey into uncharted waters – to experience a change of scenery whilst its new and very significant neighbour, the new Library of Birmingham, was built.

Eighteen months on and the momentous challenge of relocating a producing theatre, maintaining a programme of work across the city, continuing to expand learning and participation activity and forging ahead with new artistic partnerships whilst being involved in a £188m capital project seems less daunting. The company has had fun, learned new things, felt able to play with spaces and projects and seen very different parts of the city. From presenting The Snowman in the International Convention Centre to producing a hip-hop graphic novel in a warehouse in January and performing in repertoire at the original Old Rep Theatre, the challenges have been interesting: the former delayed due to snow en route from Finland; the warehouse audience advised to bring blankets and hotties for fear of frostbite; and the balcony audience at the Old Rep suffering mild vertigo and a degree of heat stroke. The company’s aim of engaging with new communities and exploring collaboration with the library service on the way has led to a two-year project, funded by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. Neighbourhood REP has created six different theatre projects with library communities in hard to reach areas of the city. Half way through, the outcomes are very exciting – a large-scale community play in a medieval castle ruin, a multi-sensory piece with blind and visually impaired students and a story-telling project in a Grade II gothic library.

Relocating a theatre operation isn’t easy and the company has ended up in four different sites in the city, which brings its share of challenges. Happily, the office block that accommodates the core staff has two large, airy rooms, allowing rehearsals to happen under one roof. Scenic workshop and paint are on one industrial estate and the electricians live with LX stock and costume on another. The Box Office has pride of place in the foyer of the current library – the first team to experience the shape of things to come. To compensate for this disruption and maintain morale, company meetings happen every two months and each department takes on the challenge of cooking – for everyone. And some great chefs have been discovered…

With only ten months until the building is handed over and a further six until it reopens, focus is now on the biggest ‘get-in’ of the company’s history in 2013. Whilst introducing our new Artistic Director, Roxana Silbert, celebrating a centenary, running a full programme, setting up catering, running a Heritage Lottery funded archive project, launching playwriting software, leading a pan-European play-writing project and, of course, doing the day jobs. The peripatetic bit was easy… now comes the hard work.