Sir Derek Jacobi, one of Britain’s most celebrated actors, will be returning to the Midlands next month for a rare and intimate evening at the venue where his extraordinary career first took flight.

In 1960, fresh from Cambridge, a young Derek Jacobi walked through the doors of what was then the Birmingham Repertory Theatre on Station Street. These were his formative years and a time that he has often described with deep affection.

It was whilst at The Rep that Sir Laurence Olivier saw Derek Jacobi perform Henry VIII. Olivier was so impressed that invited him to London and made him a founding member of the newly formed National Theatre. Derek was just 24.

The boy from Leytonstone who won a scholarship to Cambridge went on to take Hamlet to the Edinburgh Fringe, and never looked back.

More than six decades later, Sir Derek’s achievements span stage, film, and television with a distinction few can match. His honours include a BAFTA, a Tony Award, two Primetime Emmys, three Olivier Awards, and a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for services to theatre.

His screen work ranges from I, Claudius, The Day of the Jackal, Gosford Park, Nanny McPhee, The King’s Speech, and Last Tango in Halifax, to The Crown, the Gladiator films. He has even narrated the beloved BBC children’s series In the Night Garden. His Shakespearean legacy is vast, with landmark performances in Hamlet, Othello, Richard II, Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing, and many more.

Sir Derek evening performance at The Old Rep will see him joined by his partner of nearly fifty years, Richard Clifford - an actor, director, and lifelong Shakespearean. Clifford’s career includes roles in Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing and Love’s Labour’s Lost, two decades of directing at Washington’s Folger Shakespeare Library, and co‑teaching on the Shakespeare Authorship MA at Brunel University. His insight, humour, and deep knowledge make him the ideal companion for a night of conversation with Sir Derek.

Together, they will reflect on a life lived in theatre, the craft that shaped them, and the remarkable journey that began right here in the Midlands.