The Rep offers audiences a spectacular feast of the very best in musicals, tense drama, comedy, dance and star names as it announces highlights and new productions for its 2025 season line up.

Six years after its acclaimed UK premiere at The Rep, director Roxana Silbert, former artistic director at The Rep and Hampstead Theatre, returns to Birmingham with a powerful new production of A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini’s spiritual sequel to The Kite Runner.

Performed on the main stage from 11 April - 3 May, A Thousand Splendid Suns a Birmingham Rep, Nottingham Playhouse, and Leeds Playhouse co-production, is set in 1992 in an Afghanistan ravaged by war. An orphaned Laila is left alone in an increasingly threatening world. Her old neighbour Rasheed is quick to open his home and takes Laila as his second wife.

Rasheed’s first wife Mariam has no choice but to accept her younger, and now pregnant rival. As the Taliban take over, life for all of them becomes a desperate struggle against starvation and brutality and the two women find themselves unlikely allies.

In this unflinching, life affirming drama, love grows and sustains the human spirit even during the hardest of times.

The Rep has announced British actor and comedian Rufus Hound will play the role of Jacob Marley and Matthew Cottle (Citizen Khan, Eastenders, Plebs) as Scrooge in Mark Gatiss’ acclaimed A Christmas Carol – A Ghost Story, a supernatural stage adaptation of the Charles Dickens’ classic, which will thrill, surprise and astound audiences.

This superb re-telling of the Christmas classic tale runs from 14 November - 5 January at The Rep after previous festive sell-out seasons in London and Nottingham.

From 9 - 12 January the theatre will be filled with the instantly recognisable music of The Snowman, including Howard Blake’s classic song Walking In The Air. This enchanting live show has thrilled audiences around the world since first appearing on The Rep’s stage in 1993, directed by The Rep’s former artistic director Bill Alexander. It was last staged at the theatre in 2022, delighting audiences and critics alike.

West End hit and much-loved comedy Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) returns to The Rep’s main stage from 3 - 8 January.

This unique and audacious retelling of Jane Austen’s most iconic love story won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy and the Evening Standard Award.

Men, money and microphones will be fought over in this irreverent but affectionate adaptation where the stakes couldn’t be higher when it comes to romance.  This multi award-winning production features a string of pop classes including Young Hearts Run Free, Will You Love Me Tomorrow and You’re So Vain.

Running from 27 January - 1 February is Birdsong, starring the award-winning actor Max Bowden, best known for the role of Ben Mitchell in EastEnders. This new stage production of Sebastian Faulks’s epic story of love marks the 30th anniversary of the international best-selling novel.

Set in pre-war France, a young Englishman, Stephen Wraysford, embarks on a passionate and dangerous affair with the beautiful Isabelle Azaire that turns their world upside down. As the war breaks out over the idyll of his former life, Stephen must lead his men through the carnage of the Battle of the Somme and through the sprawling tunnels that lie deep underground. Faced with the unprecedented horror of the war Stephen clings to the memory of Isabelle as his world explodes around him.

Returning to The Rep by popular demand and in a brand-new production is Floella Benjamin’s award-winning and iconic book Coming to England from 19 - 22 February.

With music and song, it tells the story of Floella’s moving story of coming to England as a child. Adapted for the stage by David Wood this vibrant and energetic show set in 1960’s London is the perfect entertainment for the whole family.

Coming to the Studio from 4 - 6 March is Tiny Fragments of Beautiful Light written by Allison Davies and performed by Hannah Genesius, Zoe Lambert and Yemisi Oyinloye.

Elsa doesn’t know why she never quite fits in. Perhaps it’s just the way she’s made? She’s quirky, kind, clever and funny, but school was always a nightmare, and romance was a mystery, until now… When Elsa meets Carmen, the real journey begins: to find out who she is, and why there’s an octopus living inside her head.

This stage play is an immersive, interactive exploration of one woman’s journey of self-discovery and a celebration of the joy and freedom that comes when we live as we truly are.

Directed by Kevin Traynor, Tiny Fragments of Light has been designed with the access needs of neurodiverse audiences in mind. Audiences will therefore have the choice to experience the sound through the use of headphones so that they can control what and how they hear. If audiences prefer not to use headphones at all that is absolutely fine, the sound will play at a relaxed level in the space.

Following the premiere at London’s Barbican Theatre earlier this year, the UK’s most celebrated Hip-Hop dance company Boy Blue bring their acclaimed new performance piece Cycles to the House on 7 and 8 March. This new production is movement at its most fluid, distilled and skilled.

Resolute and unapologetic, Boy Blue's latest production is a tenacious exploration of Hip-Hop dance in all its forms. Experience the connection between the movement on stage and the rhythm, groove and bounce of the music, as nine powerful dancers fill the space in what feels like unending movement.

(the Woman) from award winning writer Jane Upton visits The Door studio on 7 and 8 March. This 2022 Bruntwood Prize shortlisted play revolves around M a woman, writer and mother.

Catapulted from the crest of a hit play and hijacked by motherhood the wild nights out have been replaced by evenings in with baby and breastpump. Suddenly M is burnt out, angry, lonely, unsure and terrified of the future.  She wants to tell her story, her way but as she spills her guts and start to write, everyone around her shares their opinions on who she is, who she should be. This relatable funny and groundbreaking production sends out a painful scream from the abyss of early motherhood.

From 11 - 15 March step into the fading American Dream in Arthur Miller’s masterpiece Death of a Salesman.

This gripping tale, pitting a father’s expectations again his sons’ realities, is as relevant and as poignant now as it was when it first exploded on the theatre scene in 1949.

This Pulitzer Prize-winning play is back in a new production taking audiences on an enthralling journey through the final 24 hours of Willy Loman’s life.

James Graham’s powerful new adaptation of Alan Bleasdale’s BAFTA award-winning TV series Boys from the Blackstuff bursts onto the main stage from 18 - 22 March.

Directed by Kate Wasserberg Boys from the Blackstuff is set in 1980s Liverpool and features the well-known characters of Chrissie, Loggo, Dixie and Yosser who are used to hard work and providing for their families but there is no work and there is no money. What are they supposed to do? Work hard, work longer? This acclaimed production from Bill Kenwright Ltd will provide audiences with a memorable night of comedy.  ‘Funny, punchy, humane.  Financial Times’

Ambition, power and political unrest explode onto the stage in The Merchant of Venice 1936, direct from the RSC and London’s West End from 1 - 5 April. Starring Tracy-Ann Oberman (Eastenders, Doctor Who) as Shylock, Shakespeare’s classic is transported to 1930s Britain in this “striking and impactful” (Guardian) new production that “makes theatre history” (The Telegraph), from acclaimed director Brigid Larmour.

Tensions in London’s East End are rising and Shylock, a resilient single mother and hard-working businesswoman, is desperate to protect her daughter’s future. When the charismatic merchant Antonio comes to her for a loan, a high-stakes deal is struck. Will Shylock take her revenge, and who will pay the ultimate price?

Don’t miss this unforgettable, electrifying new production of The Merchant of Venice, a “fascinating and timely” (Daily Mail) reminder of a key moment in British history.

The Worst Princess, a delightful dragontastic show for pop princesses and naughty knights  flies into The Rep on 23 April.

Presented by Full House Theatre and based on the bestselling book by Anna Kemp and Sara Ogilvie The Worst Princess is a delightful new stage production for the whole family.

Feisty Sue is not your everyday fairy tale superstar, in fact she’s The Worst Princess. After being rescued by her twit of a prince she’s ready to start her happy end. But first she’ll have to make friends with a dragon, escape from a tower and set the Prince’s pants on fire with her new fire-breathing bestie. Will Sue find her happily ever after?

Enjoy laugh-out-loud comedy, cool puppets, sing along pop anthems and a dazzling larger-than-life dragon as this bestselling picture book is brought to life on stage.  Suitable for ages 3+.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1975 iconic blockbuster Jaws, producers Sonia Friedman Productions, Scott Landis, GFour Productions and Kenny Wax are delighted to announce the critically acclaimed Olivier award-nominated West End and Broadway production, The Shark Is Broken will be at The Rep for an unmissable season from 6 - 10 May.

Co-written by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon and inspired by Robert Shaw’s experience playing ‘Quint’ in Jaws, The Shark Is Broken is the brilliantly funny play which celebrates movie history as it peeks at the choppy waters behind Hollywood’s first blockbuster and imagines what happened on board ‘The Orca’ when the cameras stopped rolling during the filming of Steven Spielberg’s epic movie.

The Shark Is Broken stars Ian Shaw (Warhorse, Common) as his father, Robert Shaw with casting for the roles of Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss to be announced.

Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women adapted for the stage by Anne-Marie Casey can be seen in the House from 20 - 24 May.

Experience the enduring journey of the March sisters - tomboy Jo, beautiful Meg, sensitive Beth, and spoilt Amy, as they navigate the challenges of the Civil War era, forging unbreakable bonds of love and family.

Still as relevant today, Little Women is a celebration of women proving that women can be heroes of their own story, can be bold, persistent, self-assured to stand strong in who they are, and what they desire for themselves in their present and future. The classic story offers an exciting theatrical experience guaranteed to be a night (or afternoon!) filled with laughter.

Coraline a Rep new musical based on the original novel by Neil Gaiman (Dr Who, Omens) will be providing a spine-tingling theatre experience from 12 - 22 June.

There is something not quite right about the house Coraline and her parents move into. As she explores her new home, she discovers a parallel world where everything is perfect but not everything is as it seems.

Presented by Birmingham Rep, Leeds Playhouse, Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh and HOME Manchester, this new production reunites director James Brining and set and costume designer Colin Richmond following their five-star success of Oliver!

Public Booking for this season opens on Friday 27 September at birmingham-rep.co.uk