Two extracts from 120 Years of Birmingham Hippodrome in as many Short Tales

The playbill for opening night at the Tower of Varieties and Circus looks crazily exotic: the Wonderful Brothers Clarke; Adas and Vulcana; Three Escaladors; Mademoiselle Pamamoto; Little Valdo (The Funniest Clown on Earth); Chiyokichi; The Leglere Troupe (famous acrobats); Three Martinettis; Willie Richard (alias Rabbit); The Mayos; Edgar and Eugene; Cliffe Berzac (animal acts); and last but not least, but possibly highest, The Zoes (champion aerial flying gymnasts).

You paid two shillings for a seat in the stalls, another sixpence for a reserved seat (yes, the Drayseys got there before Ryanair) and threepence to sit in the gods. All that information is contained in this gorgeous silk souvenir programme. Look closely and you’ll see the auditorium in its original form.

Whether it’s Summer in Southside, with dancers, juggling acts, street artists and (in 2018) a Chinese pavilion built from cardboard boxes, or the Weekender Festival, which draws cutting-edge performers from across Europe and beyond, the Hippodrome stamps its identity on Birmingham as an engine of inclusive creativity.

A major sponsor, producer and curator of Weekender, we’ve helped bring quirky, innovative performances to narrow boats, multistorey car parks, railways stations, brownfield sites, factories and shopping malls. It might be two French porters offering to take your luggage to the departure boards, free dancing in Victoria Square, a group of giant-headed Polish bureaucrats hustling down New Street, or scary men with drums and fireworks: there’s no end to the surprises of Weekender.