Double the Fun! Belgrade Theatre Celebrates Shakespeare's Birthday and St George's Day

With Monday 23 April marking both Shakespeare's Birthday and St George's Day, Coventry's Belgrade Theatre is getting ready for a double celebration as it prepares to welcome two fantastic family productions to the stage. This summer, the Theatre will be running through a horrid history of England as well as shining a spotlight on our national poet with brand new tours from Birmingham Stage Company and Oddsocks Productions.

First up, from 30 May until 3 June, the award-winning Birmingham Stage Company will be serving up a brilliantly bonkers overview of all things British with their latest Horrible Histories tour - More Best of Barmy Britain. Based on the bestselling books by Terry Deary, the hugely popular Horrible Histories Live series offer a fun, fascinating and entirely unflinching look back at all the gruesome, gory stories from our colourful past, packed with facts that are at times delightfully disgusting and at others downright daft!

What better way to celebrate St George's Day than by booking seats at the Belgrade for an audience with some of English history's most celebrated figures? Expect rotten Romans, vicious Vikings, terrible Tudors, slimy Stuarts and much more, from revolting royalty to stinking soldiers and putrid peasants.

Look out too for a brand new scene starring "Wordy Will" Shakespeare himself, showing him at his poptastic best while demonstrating how much of our everyday language comes to us from the Bard. To be or not to be at the Belgrade Theatre this summer - is it even a question? Don't miss this laugh-out-loud new show from the company behind the smash hit adaptation of David Walliams' Awful Auntie and the Olivier Award-nominated Gangsta Granny!

Then from 19-21 June, a staple of the English stage gets blasted into outer space when Oddsocks Productions beam aboard the Belgrade once again with another reimagined Shakespeare show. Famed for turning the Bard's best-loved stories on their heads, Oddsocks now take on the timeless tale of The Tempest with their trademark lively, irreverent and family-friendly approach.

Prepare to be transported to a distant universe on board a spaceship manned by ageing astronaut Prospero, his fearless daughter Miranda, and a whole host of madcap aliens as the team behind last year's "bonkers and brilliant" Mod-themed Romeo and Juliet prepare to boldly go where no Shakespeare show has ever gone before.

Horrible Histories: More Best of Barmy Britain runs on the Belgrade Theatre Main Stage from Wednesday 30 May until Saturday 3 June, while The Tempest runs on the B2 Stage from Tuesday 19 until Thursday 21 June.

Tickets to both of these shows and more are available to book now by calling the Box Office on 024 7655 3055, or by visiting www.belgrade.co.uk where prices are even cheaper.