Stage and Screen

Birmingham has one of the highest concentrations of live theatre outside the West End of London; the Alexandra, Birmingham Rep, Crescent, MAC, Hippodrome, Library and Old Rep Theatres stage both traditional and more innovative works. You can also choose from a wide range of cinemas, from the large multi-screen complexes to smaller cinemas (such as the newly refurbished and restored Electric Cinema, the oldest working cinema in the UK, dating from 1909) specialising in Arthouse, foreign language and avant-garde films. Again, student discounts are available for most performances.

The Star City complex, about 2 miles to the north of the city centre, boasts 30 screens and almost 6,000 seats (the UK’s largest cinema), and has restaurants, bars and shopping too. Star City is even large enough to have dedicated sets of screens for Asian (Bollywood etc.), Arthouse and classic films.