Highbury Theatre Centre

Highbury Theatre Centre stands in Royal Sutton Coldfield, a town on the northern edge of Birmingham. Its building began in 1937 when the company bought a First World War mission chapel on Sheffield Road for just over £200. Members learned building skills on site—bricklaying, plastering, joinery, electrics—and worked through the Second World War, mainly at night. The original seats came from the bombed Prince of Wales Theatre, some still bearing splinter marks. Officially opened in May 1942 with George Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man, it has run continuous seasons ever since. The name changed twice, first to Highbury Little Theatre and then in 2008 to Highbury Theatre Centre to reflect its wider community role. The theatre is worth the journey because it is one of the oldest amateur theatres in Birmingham and a founder member of the Little Theatre Guild of Great Britain. John English, who took over as director in 1928 at the age of seventeen, later helped establish the Midlands Arts Centre and the Arena Theatre Company. The building has hosted Guild national conferences and welcomed patrons such as Sir Barry Jackson and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. In the 1980s the theatre expanded by buying the shop next door and nearby houses, using rental income to support riskier productions. It now runs a film club revived from the 1940s and stages seven main-stage plays plus three studio shows each season. Visitors find a fully equipped community theatre with a bar, coffee lounge, three large dressing rooms and a green room. Behind the stage are vast wardrobe departments, in-house set-building workshops, rehearsal rooms and a props store. The resident company, the Highbury Players, performs classics and contemporary plays chosen by an elected arts committee. Children can join the Highbury Youth Theatre, working towards LAMDA exams and taking part in National Association of Youth Theatres workshops. Throughout the year the building also hosts art exhibitions, community events and the Highbury Film Club, which shows arthouse and classic films.