City News

The Autumn and Winter 2009 season at Birmingham Repertory Theatre brings new work by Dennis Kelly, Edward Bond and Samantha Ellis, new adaptations of literary classics, plus the return of some much loved shows. The season offers a rich, varied and entertaining programme to appeal to everyone.

The season opens in style with the return of Rufus Norris’s sell out production of the highly successful Cabaret which thrilled audiences last Autumn at The REP. The Autumn also sees the return of another play which originated at The REP. Ayub Khan-Din’s East Is East became a BAFTA award-winning film following its premiere in the intimate surroundings of The REP’s studio theatre back in 1996. Thirteen years on, this warm-hearted story enjoys a major revival in the main house with a brand new production directed by Iqbal Khan.

Former REP artistic director Jonathan Church and the creative team that were responsible for one of The REP’s most successful productions in recent history, Of Mice And Men, return in October with another Steinbeck classic, The Grapes Of Wrath. This highly acclaimed adaptation by Frank Galati stars Sorcha Cusack, Christopher Timothy and Oliver Cotton.

One of this country’s most admired actors Felicity Kendall will visit The REP during November in a new staging of George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs Warren’s Profession. Shaw’s ultimate test of a mother-daughter relationship is one of his most witty and provocative plays. This production will be directed by Michael Rudman.

The REP’s magical Christmas production this year will be a brand new adaptation by Bryony Lavery of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. As an associate artist of The REP, Bryony’s work includes Frozen (winner of the TMA Best New Play award and nominated for four Tonys) and the acclaimed 2007 adaptation of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. A Christmas Carol will be directed by Nikolai Foster.

The festive season also includes the return of The REP’s ever popular production of The Snowman. Having made its international debut in Seoul, Korea earlier this year, The Snowman will return to London’s Peacock Theatre in December before embarking on a major European tour to the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic.

New work commissioned for the season will include the world premieres of plays by Dennis Kelly and Samantha Ellis. One of the UK’s most electrifying playwrights, Dennis Kelly’s new play Orphans is a thrilling contemporary suspense story. It will be directed by Roxana Silbert of Paines Plough and co-produced with the Traverse Theatre where it will open during the Edinburgh Festival in August.

Samantha Ellis’ play Cling To Me Like Ivy was inspired by a chance remark by Victoria Beckham in 2004 which sparked a crisis within the Orthodox Jewish community about the wigs worn by married Orthodox Jewish women. Samantha wrote the play whilst on attachment to The REP and following its premiere in The Door the production will tour the region, supported by the Sir Barry Jackson Trust.

Other highlights for the season include; Susan Hampshire in a new stage adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice, a world premiere of an Edward Bond play presented by Big Brum; Out of Joint’s new comedy about love, death and responsibility Dreams Of Violence by Stella Feehily; international touring company Ridiculusmus with its razor sharp and vividly imaginative production Tough Time, Nice Time; UK Hip Hop theatre pioneer Benji Reid’s latest production of a modern day tragedy, The Devil’s Taken Quentin’s Heart; The Idiot Colony - a visually stunning and inventive play based on real life accounts of the treatment and incarceration of “moral defectives” in 1940's England, presented by Red Cape Theatre; and Volcano Theatre’s i-witness inspired by WG Sebald’s book The Rings of Saturn.