BIRMINGHAM Repertory Theatre will be closed for almost two years when the city’s new Central Library is being built, it was confirmed today.

It will shut its doors for 18 months during the final stages of the £193 million library’s construction.

But the theatre plans to continue staging shows in Birmingham by using other venues and staging outdoor productions, possibly in marquees or mobile theatres.

Executive director Stuart Rogers said: “The Rep will be continuing to produce work over that period elsewhere in the city and both the City Council and Arts Council England have committed funding to enable that to happen.

“The two years will give us a chance both to work in other existing venues in the city and to create site-specific pieces of work such as the innovative show BOX that we created on the city-centre canal network two years ago.”

Today, it was not immediately clear if there would be any impact on jobs.

A source at the Rep said members of staff were still unsure of whether there would be any redundancies during the theatre’s closure.