 | This articlerelies largely or entirely on asingle source. Relevant discussion may be found on thetalk page. Please helpimprove this article byintroducing citations to additional sources. Find sources: "Crescent Theatre" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(January 2012) |
 The Theatre from Sheepcote Street | |
 Interactive map of The Crescent Theatre | |
| Address | Sheepcote Street Birmingham England |
|---|---|
| Public transit |  Birmingham New Street/Five Ways |
| Type | |
| Capacity |
|
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1932 (1932) |
| Rebuilt |
|
| Architect | Graham Winteringham |
| Website | |
| crescent-theatre | |
TheCrescent Theatre is a multi-venuetheatre run mostly by volunteers inBirmingham City Centre. It is part of theBrindleyplace development on Sheepcote Street. It has a resident company, one of the oldest theatre companies in the city, and is a founding member of theLittle Theatre Guild of Great Britain. As a venue, it also hires its four performance spaces to a host of visitors each year, nationally and internationally, both amateur and professional.
In their centenary year, June 2024, it was officially announced that they would be taking over the running of the historicOld Rep Theatre from August 2024, alongside its own theatre complex in Brindleyplace.[1]
The company began, as the Municipal Players, in 1924, being an amateur company made up of City Council employees. The first theatre was a converted building, formerly Baskerville Hall, inThe Crescent, Cambridge Street.[2] The first production in this original theatre was Edmund Rostand's "The Romantics" in 1932. The company moved to newly built premises on Cumberland Street in 1964, designed byGraham Winteringham of S.T. Walker and Partners, with a seating capacity of 296. Theapron stage and first seven rows of seats were on a revolving platform to turn the interior into an arena theatre. The two-storey building was faced with London stock bricks and black-framed windows. Phase Two of the construction would have included a restaurant and a rehearsal stage.[3]
The present theatre was opened in 1998 byCelia Imrie. The theatre it replaced was demolished in the same year. It houses four performance spaces: The Main House, Ron Barber Studio, Roma's Room, and the Bar with capacities of 340, 120, 40 and 70 respectively. The building was designed byTerry Farrell and John Chatwin.
The theatre is run by a board of directors elected from the membership including chairman, secretary and treasurer. They oversee the general direction of the theatre and all the membership activities. There is a small team of paid staff who look after the day-to-day running of the building and supervise the hire operation.
The theatre has hosted a variety of events forBirmingham Royal Ballet,Birmingham Rep, theNHS and theBBC, includingrecent live broadcasts of Radio 1'sNewsbeat and Radio 4'sAny Questions.
52°28′38.27″N1°54′55.48″W / 52.4772972°N 1.9154111°W /52.4772972; -1.9154111
