Birmingham Repertory Theatre (the REP) has announced its Autumn and Winter 2019 season, launching a programme of familiar favourites side-by-side with new and inspiring theatre. Tickets will go on sale for members in April with general booking open in May.
The autumn season will open with the return of Melly Still’s staging of Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones, adapted by Bryony Lavery on 6-21 September. The performance was originally commissioned by the REP in 2018 and will tour later this year.
The season will also bring a stirring story of women of retirement age shine through in Prime Time. The show is made up of three monologues by Maeve Clarke, Rachael Mainwaring and Rochi Rampal. Running 23-26 October, this will be the third collaboration between The REP and Women & Theatre exploring themes of women in work.
Outgoing artistic director Roxana Silbert said: “I was originally drawn to The REP by its pioneering spirit, the diversity and energy of the city and the potential of a theatre that could produce the whole gamut of work: from the epic and commercial to the niche and community, encompassed in Graham Winteringham’s inspiring building.”
Mushy: Lyrically Speaking (26-28 September) tells the story of Musharaf Asghar who found himself become a national treasure when the Channel 4 programme Educating Yorkshire aired in 2013. Audiences saw the uplifting moment where, with the help of his teacher Mr Burton, Musharaf was able to overcome his stammer through the rhythm of music. Mushy was created by theatre maker Pravesh Kumar and rapper Raxstar.
Another highlight is a reimagined version of One Under (19-23 November) by award-winning playwright Winsome Pinnock and director Amit Sharma, newly appointed artistic director of The REP. First produced in 2005, the new adaptation will include a creative combination of captioning and audio description.
The programme is completed by a staging of film My Beautiful Laundrette (5-9 November), Rebel Music (19 September – 5 October), and three festivals: BEDLAM Festival, Fierce Festival and SHOUT Festival.
