The REPort - Issue 7 - Summer 2019 by Birmingham Rep

Issue 7 Summer 2019

A wizard of an actor A very warm welcome to the Summer edition of our newsletter. As we wind down very slightly for the summer months and enjoy our new terrace and square, we look forward to welcoming you back in September for an exciting Autumn season. I hope you enjoy reading this update about all things REP! Rachel Cranny Head of Fundraising

In this Issue: -

A wizard of an actor In the Foundry Brummie Illiad Good Will Happy 10th Birthday BE Fest! REPairing Lives Game of Phones The REP on Tour From the Campaign Trail More from Marmalade

An actor and a box of props: the essence of theatre. But in the hands of Sir Ian McKellen, it made for a show REP lovers will never forget. Starting with Tolkien (‘You shall not pass!’) and ending with Shakespeare (‘Would you be pleased to find a nation of such barbarous temper…?), this titan of stage and screen talked us through his acting life and then all the Bard’s plays with unique charm, skill, humour and expertise. Three shows in two days: for each one, two standing ovations from a sellout house. But this was more than just a legendary show by a legendary actor. To celebrate his eightieth birthday, Sir Ian is touring eighty UK theatres (finishing in Orkney next January!) and giving all the profits back to the theatres. With Artistic Director Sean Foley, he even stood in the foyer after the show shaking a bucket for donations. For heroism and humility, Gandalf himself could not have done better. Originally there were only to be two performances, but when they sold out in 48 hours, Sir Ian agreed to do a matinee as well. That meant one hundred young people from

The REP’s participation projects got the chance to see him perform. Then there were the special gala events, which attracted 530 people for a drinks reception and blacktie dinner. The Studio theatre became a magical woodland, with the highest quality catering from the REP’s own Marmalade team – a brilliant success for which we thank all our staff and especially our sponsor for the event, Thorns Group. The proceeds of Sir Ian’s visit go to our REP First campaign, which aims to raise £1m for our lifelong mission of nurturing regional talent, commissioning new work, welcoming new audiences, and reaching out to the communities of Birmingham and beyond. The campaign currently stands at £830,000. And Sir Ian’s contribution? A magnificent £140,000. By the time he signs off in Orkney, he will have raised £2m for UK theatres. As Shakespeare said, we can no other answer make but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks.

In the Foundry Not in the fires of Mount Doom, Sir Ian, but in our ground-breaking Foundry project: that’s where new generations of regional talent are being forged thanks to the generous support of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust. The REP’s Foundry has been burning hot for six years. It shapes and supports young writers, theatre makers and directors. They’re mentored, given access to REP staff and resources, and have a budget to make, share and test their work. So far, Foundry shows produced by The REP include a number eye-popping titles like Delightful, (sorry), Baby Daddy, Nothing, Lady Lust, Abuelo, The Forensics Of A Flat and Unknown Male. June 7th and 14th this year were special Foundry nights, with eight artists presenting 20-minute performances of their work in progress. After three days in our workshops, with fourteen actors and four directors to help them get their plays up and walking, they played to lively and enthusiastic audiences in The DOOR. It was one essential step in the journey to create the kind of arresting work we’ll see this November at the Foundry Festival. Come and see it, and you’ll hear the future voice of the theatre.

Homer’s Trojan War Poem Goes Brummie Homer’s epic poem about the Trojan War, The Iliad, has inspired countless versions for over 3,000 years, including a Hollywood movie starring Brad Pitt. But a few weeks ago The REP gave it something it’s never had before - a Brummie accent. Local actor Roderick Smith breathed new life into the classic story of heroes and gods while also celebrating the local vernacular. The production also brought together 60 committed, talented and enthusiastic local people aged 17 – 70 plus to bring the show to life. These performers were drawn from The REP’s Adult Drama Company and Lightpost Theatre and it had the same professional production values as any REP show would. Talking of the experience, co-directors Philip Morris and Madeleine Kludje said: ‘It was truly a magical experience from start to finish. To see up to 60 Brummies on stage between the ages of 17 to 70+ from all walks of life sharing and telling a story together is a memory that will last a lifetime. Projects like this really restore our faith in humanity.” If you would like to find out about funding a bursary for our youth theatre or adult drama groups, please contact Emma Knight on 0121 245 2162 or visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/support-us/

Good Will You manage and update our archives. You help out at our open days and other public events. You conduct our backstage tours with knowledge and passion. You support our fundraising events and help with marketing campaigns and research. You give talks about our history from Station Street to Centenary Square and you even help out in our offices, giving us in total over six thousand hours of your time every year. Yes! You are the generous, the resourceful, the magnificent (drum roll) REP volunteers!

Thank you!

Happy 10th Birthday BE Fest! BE FESTIVAL, Birmingham’s European performing arts festival, celebrated its 10th birthday in July. The REP has played an important part in the development of this international festival giving a platform to emerging artists and for a week each summer handing over the theatre’s set construction workshop to host a little pocket of Europe where cultures blur and Europe becomes one. Over the last decade BE has presented over 800 artists from 28 countries and enabling their artistic journeys beyond Birmingham has toured the work of 46 artists around the UK and 31 around Spain to over 25,000 audience members, with another 35,000 experiencing An Wei’s Giant in Centenary Square.

On June 1st we marked our volunteers’ contribution with a very special Volunteers’ Day, timed to coincide with the start of National Volunteering Week. We were joined by other cultural organisations in the city, who brought along many of their own volunteers. And guess what? It turned out that The REP offers the broadest range of volunteering opportunities of any arts organisation in the city. It’s no surprise, then, that at the end of the day we signed up some new volunteers. Everyone who was there had the chance to register with the whole range of arts organisations. With Birmingham hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and big arts events planned to accompany them, this was a vital step in securing the infrastructure we’ll need if we’re to show the world what a great city this is for living, creating and volunteering.

REPairing Lives A young man is fatally shot on the streets. What’s to stop it happening again? Who cares for the people affected? It has to be a community effort, and The REP is playing its part. Our Lightpost group and young people from Ladywood are working on a show about the impact of youth violence. They rehearse weekly, with a performance at the end of August. It’s one strand of our partnership with First Class Legacy, who launched the Your Life Matters project in Ladywood, funded by the West Midlands Police Crime Commissioner. The project aims to raise young people’s self-esteem and help them make sensible decisions about staying safe. First Class Legacy have created therapeutic forum spaces for young people affected by violence. Feedback has been encouraging, and sometimes moving. ‘It’s nice to be around people who care for you,’ said one participant. ‘I can control myself as I’ve learned patience and how to reflect before I act,’ said another. Asked why this project is important, participants said that ‘it brings the community together so they are able to communicate,’ and that it increased their awareness of youth violence and the value of positive decisions. Good decisions; self-worth; awareness of violence and its impact: they were all key lessons for the group. Their exploration continues through the summer. With the help of The REP, they are going on to build better and safer lives for themselves and their community.

Game of Phones When we launched our REP First campaign in 2017, it was all hands to the phones. The response from our audiences was amazing. Now, in the final year of the campaign, we’ve done it again. And so have you! We’ve spoken to nearly 900 of you over a period of six weeks, and again we’ve been astounded by your generosity. Many regular supporters have increased their level of giving, while others who donated oneoff gifts in 2017 have dug deep all over again. In fact, we have doubled our number of regular donors and now have nearly twice as many REP Friends! A very wise Buddhist monk and expert archer once said that if you want to hit a target, you should aim beyond it. With your help, a strong gust of wind caught our arrows mid-flight. We set ourselves a target of £35,000 for the phone appeal, but you practically doubled it. This new total of £70,000 (yes!) means you have all made a vital difference to our work and helped us on the way to our magical £1m target for the REP First campaign.

The REP on Tour Two REP productions will be heading overseas in the Autumn. In November The Snowman heads east to Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing and Shanghai while back in the UK, the show will also play Manchester Opera House, Glasgow Theatre Royal, Peacock Theatre London and Milton Keynes Theatre. Calixto Bieito’s The String Quartet’s Guide To Sex and Anxiety has been invited to play Festival d’Automne à Paris in November and from September onwards we’re delighted to be touring Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones to 11 theatres across the UK, the tour opens at The REP on 6 September.

From the Campaign Trail The clock is ticking and the counter is clicking. With eight months to go in our three-year REP First campaign, we’re at 83% of the target. That’s £830,000 of £1m. Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed so far (while we’re at it, let’s have another hats off and standing ovation, please, for the wonderful Sir Ian McKellen and his £140,000 contribution). But 83% is just that, and we continue to strive towards our target by the end of March 2020. In the current climate, our fundraising activities have a key role to play in bringing theatre to future generations. The money raised so far has helped sustain and diversify our work on and off stage.