The REPort - Issue 10 - Spring 2020

Issue 10: Spring 2020

In these unprecedented and challenging times, I’m pleased to welcome you to the latest edition of our newsletter.

Firstly, on behalf of the whole REP team, we would like to take this opportunity to pass on our best wishes and we hope that you are keeping safe and well.

Along with our entire sector, The REP is facing an extraordinary challenge, but we remain passionate about the role theatre can play in these difficult times and very much look forward to welcoming you back as soon as possible.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading about the innovative ways in which we are sustaining activities and playing our part.

Rachel Cranny Head of Fundraising In this Issue: – REP RELOADED – A Theatrical Knight In The Chair – Placing the NHS Centre Stage – The Art Of Graffiti – Minn’s May Day – Shifting The Dial – A Vital Appeal

REP RELOADED Youth Theatre, creative learning, innovative engagement: they’re all part of our amazing REPutation for promoting theatre in the community. Now, with our home temporarily closed, outreach has gone digital with REP RELOADED. For five days a week, right through until July, hundreds of school children across the Midlands will be able to access this pioneering online programme. They’ll tell digital stories through drama and set out on learning adventures.

They’ll devise and write plays, and share their work via school blogs, websites and The REP’s own channels. They’ll even be able to learn British Sign Language.

The response so far has been terrific. Headteacher Gill Sparrow (Hillstone Primary) says ‘I’m so impressed with REP RELOADED. It has meant we’re able to continue our engagement with the arts for our pupils and it’s such an innovative approach.’

Our Youth Theatre will enjoy virtual workshops by professional directors, including our own Artistic Director, Olivier award-winning Sean Foley. Acting for screen, performing puppetry, improvisation, creating plays – they’re all there.

Through games, writing challenges and theatre-making, young people

will remain connected during lockdown and give voice to their experiences.

We’re recording history too. In partnership with Company Three, we’re creating The Coronavirus Time Capsule, giving Young REP members the chance to record their lockdown experiences alongside thousands of other young people.

Contributions are edited and included in a weekly video time capsule. View a sample here.

We’re also streaming a selection of past productions, offering remote play-reading for families, and supporting local youngsters in care.

If you’d like to get involved or have new ideas for digital engagement, please contact Alex Summers here.

Artistic Director Sean Foley said, ‘REP RELOADED is typical of the ground breaking work of The REP. We’re not open for performances, but are continuing to create theatre in many ways. Remember, ‘It’s Only The Interval’.

Find out more about REP RELOADED here.

A Theatrical Knight In The Chair The REP is overseen by a Board of Trustees. They’re people who volunteer their time and expertise to help the theatre be in the best shape it can. Recently we selected a new Chair of the Board, and couldn’t have hoped for a better appointment.

Sir Howard Panter is one of the foremost producers and entertainment entrepreneurs of his generation. A respected figure in the entertainment industry, he has been a champion of theatre in the West End, across the UK and internationally for over forty years.

After stints at The Royal Court, RSC and Michael Codron Ltd, Sir Howard co-founded the Ambassador Theatre Group with his wife, Dame Rosemary Squire. ATG grew to become the world’s number one live theatre company, with fifty venues in Britain, the US and Europe.

Under his leadership, ATG also became a prolific and award-winning theatre producer in the West End and on Broadway, with touring productions in the UK, North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

Currently he is joint CEO of Trafalgar Entertainment, producing new shows and classics with some of the leading names in the business. Sir Howard has a strong track record of successful non-executive leadership, leaving legacies of strong governance and financial stability. He recently stood down as Chair of Rambert, one of the world’s leading contemporary dance companies where his nine-year term led the company into a new era.

In 2013, he received a knighthood for Services to Theatre in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

So what does Sir Howard make of this latest addition to his glittering CV? ‘I am delighted to join Birmingham Repertory Theatre as Chair and look forward to working with the great team there’.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man.

Placing The NHS Centre Stage How can a theatre help the NHS in its hour of need? Here’s how…

Head of Wardrobe Kay Wilton and Senior Costume Maker and Supervisor Caroline Mirfin have been working tirelessly to make gowns and scrubs for staff at Heartlands and Solihull Hospitals.

With intense pressure on the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), they have taken to their home-based

workshops to make what is needed.

We were so proud when Kay and Caroline were recognised for their amazing work and named the Westside Business Improvement District’s ‘Heroes Of The Week’.

Many frontline staff now wash their clothing in bags. It means less worry about spreading the virus.

Thanks to the amazing efforts of Mandy Vickers (Bearwood) and Kerrie Chatwin (Langley), REP staff set up a drop-off point at REP stage door and managed to collect over 50 full bags of linen, with over 100 individuals donating. In total, a fantastic 2,500 bags were delivered to staff at the Sandwell and City Hospitals.

The Art Of Graffiti Whether it’s about enlivening foyer spaces or engaging new communities, it’s natural for theatres to work with visual artists.

Recently The REP appointed a new Associate Artist in the shape of the internationally celebrated Mohammed Ali. Birmingham-born, ‘Aerosol’ Ali embraces street art culture with his unique blend of creative verve and Islamic inspirations.

Ten years ago he created Writing on the Wall in our old workshop. Graffiti, live painting, music and poetry entered the space like never before, with an audience that had never experienced The REP. Now he’s looking forward to a new world with different rules.

Passionate about taking theatre to new audiences, Mohammed will bring his skills to the project of enhancing our REPutation as a great popular theatre.

Another great career highlight was in New York, where he was invited to create a mural in response to nine people from the same family who had died in a fire in the Bronx. It was art as healing.

There he was, spraying a wall with a mother who had lost all her children. The New York Times described it as ‘the most sacred mural in NYC’.

In another project, Knights of the Raj, he set out to capture immigrant voices that had long been forgotten. The result was an exhibition in a major museum.

‘Seeing how the community reacted to seeing itself in such a place was priceless’, Mohammed said.

It was all about bringing people in from the fringes and giving them time under the spotlight.

Mohammed is a relentless optimist, always looking for fresh opportunities. During lockdown he’s worked with other artists to create a live-stream space called Congregate.

It’s seen tap dancers responding to singers, graffiti capturing religious texts, and a host of other amazing artistic collisions.

As Mohammed says, ‘I see opportunity in such dark times. It’s the only way’.

Minn’s May Day Eileen Minnock, stalwart of our Box Office, retired on May 1st after 42 years’ service to The REP. It’s been a long love affair. Minn (as she is affectionately known) got hooked as a thirteen-year-old when she saw her first show at our previous Station Street home, The Old Rep. She joined our Youth Theatre. Then, on July 31st 1978, when You’re the One that I Want was at Number One and James Callaghan was in Number Ten, she joined the Box Office team.

Since then she’s seen seven artistic directors, three refurbishments, sold more than four million tickets, and made countless friends.

Colleagues paid her wonderful tributes: such an amazing lady; she has The REP running through her veins; you are absolutely the spirit of The REP, truly one of the most wonderful people I’ve met.

Minn’s proper leaving party will have to wait (as though the May Day Zoom gathering was not emotional enough!).

For now, this is her tribute to the theatre we all love: “I’m sad about retiring but it’s something I needed to do. I’ve had a love affair with The REP since 1967 when I was 13 years old. It’s a place where I can be me, I don’t have to pretend to be anything else, which you don’t have in many other places. The REP has allowed me to grow into who I am.”

REP First Update – A Vital Appeal

(Still) Shifting The Dial Remember the names: CJ Webley and Mathias Andre. A few years ago CJ and Mathias joined The REP’s Lightpost group, a core part of our Shifting the Dial project.

Now they’ve graduated as leaders of the group.

Talented artists both, they’ll be overseeing the project through its next two years as it travels towards key milestones.

Shifting the Dial is our three-year project in partnership with First Class Legacy, the Centre for Mental Health, and Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust.

It’s funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and aims to improve wellbeing outcomes for young men. Lightpost aims to develop nothing less than a Birmingham Brotherhood – a band of friends who build mental strength through a wide range of cultural activities.

They reflect on their experience, tell their stories, and celebrate their heritage. The outcome will be a community network of support for young men and their families. But that won’t be the end. After rigorous evaluation, the findings will be shared with health, justice and educational institutions so that as a country we might begin to shift the dial for mental health policy and practice.

Right now, Lightpost are hard at work on their new production Constructed, about black Britons in the construction industry. It’s full of resonances for lockdown Britain.

Trapped, without control over their destiny, the characters look forward to a time when they can start the work of building. You’ll find updates here.

CJ, Mathias and all of us at The REP give heartfelt thanks the National Lottery Community Fund for their continued support.

These are challenging times and this project has never seemed more important.

The current crisis is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges The REP has faced in its 107 year history.

Alongside the entire UK arts sector, we are striving to mount a robust response and ensure that the show will go on. We have never needed the support of our audiences and donors more, in order to secure the future of The REP and sustain our impactful work both on and off stage.

Many of you will be aware that our ‘REP First’ campaign was due to come to an end in March. In the current circumstances, we have taken the decision to continue our appeal, in an attempt to raise as many vital funds as possible to support The REP now and in the future.

The REP has always been a pioneering organisation and we are proud to have been at the forefront of theatre in the UK for over a century. We are working hard to innovate and adapt in order to play our role in any way we can during these difficult days.

As a registered charity, we rely on the generosity of individuals, businesses and funders to deliver our diverse activities. The vast majority of our income comes from ticket and refreshment sales, representing 80% of our total revenue. Therefore, in light of the current crisis and theatre closure, the impact on The REP is devastating.

We completely understand that this is an extremely difficult time for many, but if you are able to make a donation of any size, we would be incredibly grateful. With your support, we can use theatre as a tool to support our communities, ensure that this is #onlytheinterval and that the curtain will rise again on world-class theatre in Birmingham.

To play your part, please click here or call 0121 236 4455 (Monday to Thursday 12-4pm).

To find out more about The REP’s fundraising, please email development@birmingham-rep.co.uk.

Birmingham Repertory Theatre 6 Centenary Square, Birmingham B1 2EP To keep in touch with our activities and find out how you can join in, follow us via the following; /birminghamrep

@birminghamrep

@therepbirmingham

Registered in England 295910 | Charity No.223660