Birmingham initially gained attention during the industrial revolution. for this reason, the city boasts a massive network of canals, which boasts plenty more miles of canal than venice. The city also boasts severalnotable associations, which include HP Sauce, Tony Hancock, Cadbury’s, Black Sabbath, the Spitfire and the Mini car.

Birmingham is a modern, exciting & cosmopolitan city. With vibrant night life, snazzy hotels, exciting shopping opportunities & unusual tourist attractions, it is a exciting location to visit for a short break or holiday.

Birmingham also has some fantastic architecture to see, which include the Bullring shopping centre. The Bullring was constructed at a cost of £500 million by Benoy & is a beautiful, modern building.

One of the best things about Birmingham has to be its great museums, galleries and attractions that are lively & interesting for the entire family. one of the most interestingis Dudley Zoo, which is in the grounds of dudley castle & has some great animals that are set over 40 acres of beautiful greenery.

Some of our other favourites include the Sarehole Mill, Bantock House & Soho House.

If you are a fan of shopping, you definitely won’t be disappointed by birmingham city centre. From designer stores to small, independent boutiques, the city truly has something for everyone to enjoy.

There are many independent stores in the city’s Custard Factory, which was built on the site of the old Bird’s custard factory. in addition to this, you’ll find high-street stores in the city’s Pallasades shopping centre that is placed just above new street railway station. alternatively, you could drop by the city’s brand-new Bullring mall, which boasts more than 150 different stores for you to look at & enjoy.

With quaint pubs, exclusive wine bars & fabulous nightclubs, brum has everything you require for a fabulous evening out. lovers of electro music will be pleased to find many enormous electro clubs, whereas fanaticals of rock & indie bands will be happy to explore that the city has many live music venues that hold regular concerts, as well as night clubs that play the best bits rock tunes.

If you require somewhere to stay after your fun night out, you will be spoilt for choice in Birmingham. indeed, the city boasts branches of muchmajor hotel chains such as crowne plaza & the malmaison.

As its situated in the centre of england, getting to birmingham is simple. birmingham new street offers regular rail connections to and from various locations throughout england. in addition to this, it is also easily accessed by road.

If you would like to fly to Birmingham, you may fly into Birmingham International Airport. The airport is just 5.5. miles from birmingham city centre.

Heathrow airport began its life as a small military airfield during the First World War, after this original period it never saw active service as an RAF airport and can trace its heritage almost solely as a commercial airport.

Strangely the layout has found itself limited by the centrally located terminals, due to the fact that airport planners originally thought passengers would be arriving in chauffeur driven cars. The subsequent large public car parks have placed a strain upon use of space making car hire a brilliant way to get to and from the airport.

Having such brilliant transport links car hire from Heathrow airport is the ideal way to enter the country. Being one of the busiest airports in the world, and the busiest airport in terms of international travellers, the airport is in a perpetual state of bustle with all manner of peoples passing through the terminals daily. With flights to almost anywhere in the world it is the major hub airport of Britain with many UK airports offering link flights for destinations further a field.

Heathrow Airport like many airports today is a commercial centre that is filled with shops and restaurants as well as travel related industries such as car hire companies. Heathrow can be seen as a major employer in the area providing jobs for not only those in the local area but many commuters from London. Its proximity to London makes life easy for commuters with a direct rail link into the city.

Heathrow Airport actually lies inside the M25 and has brilliant links onto the London ring road. From Heathrow the use of a hire car can take you to anywhere in the country. The M25 acting as a gateway to the West Country, East Anglia the Southern coast and the North. With so many trunk roads branching out from the M25 it is truly the hub of the British road network and makes use of a hire car simple and efficient.

Heathrow is currently building a large new terminal christened somewhat boringly as Terminal 5. It is set to open in March 2008 and will have the usual accompanying travel links as car hire desks, bus stops and its own train station. Predominantly, the eventual aim is for the terminal to house the majority of British Airways flights, ultimately making the terminal solely BA focussed.

The terminal is expected to cost the princely sum of 4.2 billion pounds but airport bosses will be clinging to the hope that it comes in under budget and on schedule. The new terminal will also have to cater for the gargantuan Airbus A380 with special concourses and docking facilities.

One thing is certain; with a host of businesses in fields such as retail, hospitality and car hire the chances for profit will be immense. Even the world renowned shops Cartier and Harrods are looking into creating outlets in the terminal to provide premier shopping for more privileged passengers.

The future of Heathrow Airport is not completely sparkling though; it is believed that the two operating runways are currently running at ninety eight percent capacity meaning even with the new Terminal, flight slots will still be in high demand.

Its mantle as the airport with the most international passengers is believed to be surpassed by France’s Charles De Gaulle Airport by the year 2010, as it is only currently operating at seventy four percent capacity. Of course the new generation of larger airplanes will ease the strain but Heathrow must still consider another runway if they hope to remain as profitable.

England is a photographer’s paradise. Rich historical subjects blend with modern attractions in a dizzying array. Waterfronts, beaches, hillsides, forests, gardens, castles, and cityscapes are just a few highlights. Tours through the capitol of London tend to concentrate on the usual suspects. Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, and the Westminster Bridge are popular attractions. London’s historical sights make fascinating subjects but most serious photographers will want to venture beyond the typical tourist attractions.

Starting in the historic town of Bath with roman structures from the empires expansion and moving through the Cotswolds is a popular journey for photo taking.  The region prospered in the middle ages from a lively wool trade and many of the stone buildings survive today. Quaint villages beg to be captured in image. Old churches dot the landscape which is a brilliant subject in its own right.

The gardens of England are unrivaled and a frequent favorite of landscape photographers. The mixture of formal gardens laid out in strict patterns and informal collections of plantings often includes water features and statues. Many photogenic gardens exist on properties with restaurants and tea houses. Stately castles and cathedrals draw heavily as favored subject. York Minster, Belsay Hall, and Durham Castle in Northeast are not far from the scenic coastline. The beaches and rock formations have interesting textures and in between are the rolling hills.

Hever Castle is one of many prime photo destinations in Kent. This region is fighting for status as the heart of England. Homes of Churchill, Darwin and other notables share the region with the Boleyn family home.

While many photo tourists coming to the United Kingdom think of villages, gardens and bridges on the Thames, vibrant cityscapes in towns that have survived for ages are another fascinating subject pool. England is as modern as any society, yet many of its inhabitants and businesses exist in old historic locations. This marge of ancient and futuristic makes fascinating shutter food for creative artists. Subcultures like the motorcycle couriers of England paint modern urban cowboys on a landscape with the tower of London. 

The Lake District is an area with more to offer than water features. While the namesakes of this district are worthy of photographic interest, the surrounding countryside and pastures is equally attractive. Warm months are the most popular time for shutterbugs to invade the island nation. Fall and winter scenery is not to be discounted. In the forests and hills the autumn colors and winter landscapes are a viable option for those who want to capture something less predictable. Summer holiday havens like the Isle of Wight can be very fertile subject bases in the off season.

From the chalk cliffs of Dover to the crowded streets of London there are rare opportunities for photographers visiting Great Britain. Get the most for your group by planning to take advantage of the resources available. From day trips to month long expeditions, the perfect adventure for your group is waiting for you.

In Britain, the repertory movement was a theatrical movement that originated in the early years of the twentieth century, was continued and developed between the two world wars, and became, after 1950, the prevailing form of theatrical organisation outside London. The earliest repertory companies were created and introduced as a protest against London’s domination of the theatres in the regions, along with a desire to counter-balance the commercial successes of the ‘West End’. My argument in this essay is that the time has come for a renewal of that protest in the face of a modern domination of British theatre by ‘The West End’.

By the second half of Queen Victoria’s reign, most people earned more money and worked shorter hours than ever before. This meant that for the first time, ordinary workers had enough leisure time to enjoy pastimes. By the mid-1800s, most of the large towns had several theatres, providing a range of ‘song-and-dance’ shows that entertained the whole family. By the 1860s, theatre became so successful that not only were they decorated to make them more comfortable with proper cushioned seats and carpet, but also matinées were introduced and the representational style of theatre was replaced with a new realism, pioneered on the continent by writers such as Ibsen. This meant box-sets were placed on the stage to create a proper room or rooms and the set would then be decorated with all the household items appropriate to that type of room; the set would appear exactly like a real-life room. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, theatres had stayed open many hours, often until midnight, showing tragedies, farces, pantomimes and other forms of entertainment that appealed to a mass audience. Theatres were not always the most salubrious places to visit. However, by the end of the century theatres were more attractive, stayed open for much shorter periods of time and the theatre programmes again consisted of just a single play. Banks and Marson (1998, p.45) claim that:

The court of Queen Victoria and so-called Victorian morality and attitudes affected the theatre. The Queen invited actors and companies to give ‘command performances’ at Windsor Castle;

thus the theatre became open and acceptable to all social classes, not just the lower classes of the earlier part of the century.

After the end of the Victorian period, things began to change significantly. Annie Horniman was “one of the most important forces in the shaping of twentieth century theatre in England” (Flannery, 1970, p.34), funding many worthwhile and critically acclaimed theatrical ventures and launching the careers of many famous figures in the world of drama. Annie was one of the key promoters of realism in the theatre in the UK, after observing with interest some of Ibsen’s plays. She also became aware of the number of repertory theatres in Germany and was keen to introduce into England the cultural value they brought. In her time Annie Horniman bought and renovated or financed several theatres that went on to achieve international recognition, as well as developing the modern repertory movement and enriching Britain’s dramatical culture, for which she was awarded an honorary MA. Most significantly, Horniman collaborated with W B Yeats on the establishment of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin as the first British repertory theatre in 1903. In 1907, she then bought the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester and redeveloped it as a regional repertory theatre. Harold Brighouse was another supporter of Manchester’s Gaiety and a prolific playwright of over seventy plays. Brighouse’s dominant style of writing was realism, and with Annie Horniman, was one of the first Britons to introduce and project this new style of theatre into British society. Brighouse, author of ‘Hobson’s Choice’, and other writers working in a similarly realistic style at the Gaiety became known as the Manchester School, which influenced the work of many other regional repertory theatres.

Barry Jackson shared with Annie Horniman her belief in the repertory movement. He was responsible for opening the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, which offered a valuable springboard for young actors wishing to work in ‘professional theatre’; through his work in Birmingham, he was also financing and supporting four other theatre companies. In 1904, a small group of theatrical players travelled around an area giving performances of old plays such as, ‘Youth’. It was this group, the Pilgrim Players, that later developed, under Barry Jackson’s guidance and influence, into the Birmingham Repertory Company; soon small repertory companies were beginning to establish themselves all over the country.

Although uncommon in British repertory theatres, some companies employed a form of repertoire system. In theatre, a repertoire system can operate with a theatre putting on many plays, including musicals, ballets and operas, at any one time. It is different from a weekly (or three-weekly) repertory system in that each play will have a different cast from within the same company, and possibly a different technical team too, making each production quite separate and unique. There are many benefits to this system, such as better quality and an increased variety of productions. However, the repertoire system has drawbacks too, including increased production costs due to each show needing separate sets, props, costumes, actors and publicity, with frequent changes to be organised.

When the British repertory system was in its early period of great success, it used to be that even smaller towns supported a theatre. The resident company would present a different play each week, normally a revival from a range of classics, but occasionally, if given the chance, a new play – the rights for which would have been recently released after a West End or Broadway run. However, these companies were not known for producing and developing new, untried work. Generally, companies would include a ‘leading lady’ and a ‘leading man’, two younger actors who would generally play the romantic roles. There would also be a ‘character’ actor and actress who would usually play the older roles and possibly a ‘soubrette’ who would play the cheeky, mischievous roles, thus creating a resident cast of seven actors. Occasionally a ‘guest star’ would be brought into the company for a short run to boost audience attendance and help pick up ticket sales.

The process of weekly rep was very stressful and pushed both the actors and the technical team to their limits. Typically the plays put on were three act plays and so along with performing one play, perhaps seven times a week, they would also have to learn lines, run and block a second play in their time between performances. However, from the audience’s point of view, seeing so many more, different performances, nearby and cheaper than the West End, was a fantastic and exciting opportunity. Local communities would strongly support the actors and would treat them like celebrities. According to the article on ‘repertory’ in Wikipedia, “sometimes entire families would make a visit to their local rep as part of their weekly routine like going to church”. For many of the younger audience members, this became a base for their future recognition, acknowledgement and enjoyment of live theatre, and indeed, a base for their social and cultural sense of self. However, today the practise of a new play every week and a week’s rehearsal does not happen and the practise of rep is more likely to be seen in large cities in well known establishments such as Birmingham Rep where plays run for between three and six weeks. Now actors rehearse for at least three weeks and as a result, a better show is produced and performed. However, a variation of weekly rep can still be found in some places in the UK. For example, producer Charles Vance still produces a successful weekly rep in Sidmouth based on a rotation of twelve plays.

Local repertory companies were keen to ensure a regular, good quality production for their communities. However, due to the World War between 1914 and 1918, the development of repertory slowed so much, it almost ground to a halt. The repertory theatres that remained open and successful such as Birmingham and Liverpool, encouraged other theatres to open, and continued giving their own performances, even twice a night. However, despite other smaller repertory theatres opening, by 1950, the popularity of the old style repertory theatres was disappearing, being replaced by regional theatres. Following an act of parliament in 1948, which established the arts council, many new regional repertory theatres were built; these were better financed, provided better facilities and put on longer runs of plays and invested in new writing, although still in repertory.

Regional repertory theatre in Britain was at its most important and influential between the 1950s and the 1980s. During this period the number of repertory theatres increased and the movement offered a good solid base to teach actors their trade, often acting as a preparation for professional theatre. This enabled many actors, such as Imelda Staunton, Judi Dench and Ian McKellen, who all began their careers in repertory theatres, as did Laurence Olivier, Peggy Ashcroft, Edith Evans and Ralph Richardson at Birmingham Rep between the wars, to go on to achieve universal recognition for their acting abilities.

The financing of the early repertory theatres was found privately, either through wealthy patrons such as Annie Horniman and Barry Jackson, or by local support. This meant that the companies were dependent either on the public’s continual support or on a patron having enough money to keep them running for a long period of time. This left many companies in an unstable position; the money could disappear at any time and the group would dissolve. However, the importance of keeping morale high during the Second World War was recognised by government funding for the first time, through what would become the Arts Council. This resulted in an increase of financial assistance for repertory companies after 1945.There was also a noticeable growth in local funding for resident companies or ‘regional theatres’ through the 1948 Act authorising expenditure on the arts, from the local rates, by local councils.

The years between the 1950s and the 1970s were some of the richest for dramatical culture in Britain with a wide variety of productions. Not only were the classics performed, as we see in today’s professional theatres, but also many of the plays produced, both in and out of the West End, were contemporary, with playwrights such as Willy Russell, John Osborne and Harold Pinter bringing a new meaningful depth to British theatre. Regional repertory theatres enabled a wide variety of new writers to develop an interesting range of drama, often with a local or a social and political theme.

A feature of the work of Peter Cheeseman… at the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, has been… historical documentaries of local interest, using idiomatic speech and researched by his own group of actors. (Goorney, undated)

In contrast, the same theatre was the early training ground for the famous comedy writer, Alan Ayckbourn. On the stage today, there are fewer plays being written to be performed specifically in professional theatres, again reducing what could be a very rich theatrical culture.

The vast development of the regional theatres throughout the 1960s and 1970s was followed by a huge decline in the 1980s. Cutbacks in funding meant that seasons had to be cut back and some of the studio theatres were closed completely. The closing and disappearance of repertory theatres is due to the year-on-year reduction in funding, whether it be funding from the local communities, the regional arts boards, or from central government, the financial support is simply being denied to them. The increasing difficulty for theatres in finding sponsorship and benefactors to fund their work is resulting in lowering wages, reducing cast and company sizes and restricting budgets, all of which have a clear effect on the final performances; a reduced quality production is the outcome. This has become a concern for many politicians. In February 2003, Robin Harper, MSP for the Green Party, challenged the Scottish Executive over the funding of Scottish theatre, saying, “Core funding for the Scottish Arts Council has been at a standstill, causing many theatre companies to suffer financial hardship, and their capacity to stage productions to be severely restricted.” Repertory theatre depends upon money and support from local and national government; failure to provide sufficient support will mean that repertory will not survive and Britain will loose a key educational and entertainment resource. In a Lords’ debate on 14 July, 1998, Lord Jenkins of Putney quoted Sir Cameron Mackintosh, a leading commercial theatre producer in Britain, saying:

The reason that British theatre is the envy of the world – both artistically and

financially – is that public money was invested in revitalising regional theatre from the 1950s onwards… most UK theatres outside the West End were built, saved or funded by public money. (Lords Hansard, 1998)

Bill Alexander (1998) wrote to The Independent newspaper about the benefits of good funding from his experience at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, saying that good finance:

…will see us almost double the number of performances and productions… launch Birmingham’s only venue for new writing… produce more work for children and family audiences, double our investment in education and community activities… and bring a rich programme of large-scale work to our main stage.

Today, the situation with theatres has much reverted to how it was pre-repertory, with the ‘regional’ theatres predominantly producing amateur productions, occasional touring productions and one-night entertainment shows such as music evenings and dance shows. In contrast the West End is dominated by Shakespeare and musicals – many of which are the work of Andrew Lloyd Webber – with only very few theatres presenting plays, and those that do are long-running and change infrequently. Television has become the dominant medium at the expense of live drama. Without repertory theatres there are very limited opportunities for actors to develop their talents and train and learn their craft, thus resulting in the whole of the British arts system wilting and being reduced to a very primitive and unpolished existence. As Lord Rix said in the House of Lords, on 14 July 1988, “Regional theatre is the birthplace of most new work and the training ground for our industry.”

Film and television have been an increasingly dominant medium for drama and acting over the last fifty years with many actors who had been professionally trained in theatre, turning to work ‘on the big screen’, a career change that pays more and brings greater public admiration and acknowledgement. However, film and television do offer a lot, especially for those who cannot afford to go to the theatre regularly; a wide range of classics and dramas are constantly being reproduced on film and aired on television, making it possible for the majority of the population to have some experience of cultured drama.

It is inevitable that the experience of watching television at home, alone or in a small group, watching a film in a cinema in the company of a larger audience and being part of an audience at a live production in a theatre are not the same. The improvement in cinemas, both physically and in terms of technology, has lead to huge revival in cinema going in Britain in recent years. Watching, for example, a comedy or a horror film with a large audience around increases the individual’s pleasure and involvement in the film, because it is easier to laugh out loud when others are laughing around you too, and when one person jumps or screams, others feel the tension too. However, the performance on film is fixed and cannot react to the mood of the audience.

The unique quality of live drama is not only that the performance of the actors changes and develops from performance to performance, but also the involvement of the audience with the production adds an extra dimension to the experience for both actor and audience. The most obvious form of this is in the ever-popular Christmas pantomime. However, in more subtle ways, the same is true for all live productions in the theatre. This interaction is the key force that enables you to understand what is the purpose and underlying meaning behind the play. We need theatres in Britain that present a rich variety of drama from both contemporary and classic sources and from a range of different cultures. As Goorney (undated) suggests:

A popular theatre cannot be built solely on the basis of contemporary plays concerned with the political or social ills of our society. The plays inherited from the great theatres of the past, the Greeks, the Elizabethans, the Commedia dell’arte and the Spanish theatre of Lope de Vega, are the heritage of all people and must not remain, as at present, the privilege of the few.

I believe there are many good reasons why we need more repertory theatres today, perhaps most importantly because they encourage, prepare and train young actors and dramatists for professional theatre so thoroughly, presenting a more experienced and better trained actor to the public. This has worked for hundreds of actors over the years, many of whom have gone on to become Britain’s finest dramatic performers. There is no point training the best stage actors if there is no demand or opportunity for them to exercise their dramatic performing skills. The whole community is impoverished if we are not able to be challenged, entertained and educated by the experience of seeing meaningful scripts brought to reality by skilled and exciting actors. As Goorney (undated) says, “…Art generally, including theatre, exists to enrich our spirit, to inform and extend our horizons…” In the past, regional repertory theatre has been at the heart of that experience and I believe it is time for it to be so again.

Bibliography

Alexander, Bill. 1998. Rep must look to the future, not live in the past, The Independent, July 3, 1998

Arts and Humanities Data Service 2005 Birmingham Repertory Theatre Archive Database http://ahds.ac.uk/performingarts/collections/birmingham-repertory.htm

Baker, F (Ed). 1998. The Annie Horniman Papers, Manchester: John Rylands University Library

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Banks, R A and Marson, P. 1998. Drama and Theatre Arts, London: Hodder and Stoughton

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Chambers, Colin (Ed). 2002. The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre, London: Continuum

Goorney, H. (Undated). Political Theatre in Britain 1928-1986

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Flannery, James W. 1970. Miss Annie F. Horniman and the Abbey Theatre, Dublin: Dolmen Press

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Scottish Green Party 2003. Green MSP Challenges Executive Over Theatre Funding

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