Rep Rising 26 will include four headline productions – The Red Shoes, Jane Eyre, Antigone and 1984 – which will feature young actors drawn from The Rep’s celebrated young people’s performance training companies, aged between 14-26.

Following a call-out earlier in the year for proposals from emerging and early career artists the Festival will also include a wealth of one-off performances, including work from Birmingham and Black Country theatre-makers. The work includes pieces about the benefits system, the former Lyndhurst Estate (now Abbeyfields) in Erdington, a sitcom style show about students looking to catch a pigeon, a Eurovision/Shakespeare mashup, and a performance by The Rep’s new musical theatre group, Young Rep Collective.

Rep Rising 26 performances will take place in two of The Rep’s auditoria: The Studio and The Door from 1st-19th July.

Rachel Sharpe, Creative Learning Director, Birmingham Rep, said: “Rep Rising 26 is a celebration of the extraordinary creativity, commitment and talent of the young people, artists and communities we work with throughout the year. Across the festival, audiences will see the results of months of collaboration, imagination and hard work, from first ideas in rehearsal rooms through to bold performances on our stages. It’s about making, leading and telling stories together, and we couldn’t be prouder of everyone involved.”