Birmingham Stage Co

General information

"The best of British theatre" The Stage

The Birmingham Stage Company was founded by Actor/Manager Neal Foster and is supported by Birmingham City Council but uniquely for a British theatre company it relies for 100% of its income from the box office, which means you!

Our Patron is Sir Derek Jacobi, who takes an active part in the life of the company. Since our foundation in 1992 we've staged over seventy productions for adults and children with actors including Stephen Mangan, Simon Callow, Richard Dreyfuss, Amanda Donohoe, Indira Joshi, Corin Redgrave, Eva Pope, Diana Coupland, Barry Stanton, Marcus D'Amico and Honor Blackman.

Our adult productions have ranged from classics such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams and The Crucible by Arthur Miller to contemporary plays including the British Premiere of Beau Jest by James Sherman, Speed-The-Plow and Oleanna by David Mamet and the world premieres of The Dice House by Paul Lucas at the Arts Theatre London and Collision by Dominic Leyton. Other productions include Proof by David Auburn at the Arts Theatre, Othello at The Bloomsbury Theatre and Twelfth Night in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

"There are glorious moments in the theatre when the Muses bestow their own incomparable magic on a play and those who perform it. Such was the case last night with a truly brilliant performance from The Birmingham Stage Company, who took this Tennessee Williams masterpiece and showed us the quality of its poetry with definitive performances"
The Birmingham Post

We've also enjoyed a wonderful association with Roald Dahl. In fact the BSC has produced more stories by Roald Dahl than any other company in the world. Our very first Christmas production as the new resident company of the Old Rep Theatre was Fantastic My Fox by Dahl adapted by Ian Mullins, which brought 17,500 people to the 378-seat theatre, the largest audience the Old Rep had seen for twenty years!

"The BSC is one of the country's most successful theatre companies"
- Sheffield Telegraph

Highlights from our first decade include the world's first major production of The Borrowers by Mary Norton adapted by Lynn Robertson Hay. The BBC gave the company its complete stock of props from the television series including the entire miniature village of Little Hampton, which needed three arctic lorries to carry them from Pinewood Studios to Birmingham!

Soon after we produced a brand new production of The Witches by Roald Dahl, adapted by David Wood. Audiences nationwide were enthralled by the astonishing illusions created by Paul Kieve, which turned a boy into a mouse live on stage! In 2003 we were proud to present the world's premiere tour of James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl adapted by David Wood.

Our second decade has been equally exciting, including the world's first major stage production of The Jungle Book adapted by Stuart Paterson with new music by BB Cooper and lyrics by Barb Jungr. We were also delighted to stage Kensuke's Kingdom and Why the Whales Came, both by Michael Morpungo. We are proud to have brought Horrible Histories by Terry Deary to the stage with eight world premieres including Awful Egyptians, Ruthless Romans, Terrible Tudors, Vile Victorians, Frightful First World War, Woeful Second World War, all featuring ground breaking 3D Bogglevision!

"Visits by The Birmingham Stage Company are always eagerly anticipated"
- Northern Echo

Last Christmas saw the company's London staging of Phillip Pullman's The Firework Maker's Daughter, adapted by Stephen Russell, with original music by Jak Poore, while our first joint venture with The Soho Theatre brought the world premiere of Bagpuss to the stage!

2011 also marked our New York debut at the New Victory Theater on 42nd Street with SKELLIG.

"Flawlessly acted, SKELLIG unfolds on a magnificent set, with haunting music and the two hour production flies by"
- The New York Times

This year we are celebrating our 22nd anniversary with HORRIBLE HISTORIES - BARMY BRITAIN, which has become the longest running children's show in West End history and is now on national tour. We are also bringing HORRIBLE CHRISTMAS to Birmingham and our international engagements are taking us to Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain - and another outing to the Sydney Opera House! We hope you can join us for one of these shows - wherever you are in the world!