In light of our recent decision on the use of our building, we want to reiterate that we are reading all of your comments and listening to what you are saying. We completely respect the right of all to express their opinions.

Since March we have been doing our utmost to fight for the survival of The REP and we sincerely wish we weren’t in these extraordinary circumstances. We made a decision that we believe to be in the best interests of the theatre facing a very serious situation to which there are no easy answers.

That such passionate voices have been raised against this decision demonstrates to us that we have alienated some of the individuals and communities that we are trying so hard to protect the theatre for.

We passionately believe that The REP must be a theatre for all of Birmingham’s people and communities. In no way have we wished to put any artists or partners of ours in a compromised position – either now or in the future – and recognise that this very difficult decision has impacted on that wish.

Acknowledging this, we are now urgently working towards finding a forum which will enable us to have a face to face conversation with all individuals who wish to be part of one, where we can respond personally in a facilitated, open and honest dialogue.

We recognise that these will be difficult conversations, which we are committed to having.

We are working towards announcing a place, date and time for this to happen as soon as possible.