Outdoor Silas Marner musical and more announced in Coventry City of Culture programme

Coventry City of Culture has unveiled a variety of new shows and initiatives for its 2021 programme.

A new site-specific musical based on George Eliot's Silas Marner, titled The Allesley Silas, will open in July 2021. The piece will feature writing by Coventry playwright Alan Pollock and direction by Nick Walker, who are set to create the piece alongside local communities.

The City of Culture year will kick off in May 2021 with a giant creative partnership titled Coventry Moves, created with the BBC. Plans are described as "closely-guarded secrets", but the project will be available digitally while some restrictions remain in place.

More projects include a street art festival, while there will be a week-long programme to celebrate Refugee Week in June.

The programme has rescheduled epic project The Walk, which will now arrive in the city in October.

Warwick Arts Centre and the Belgrade Theatre have revealed their seasons, which will also begin in May 2021. Warwick Arts Centre will provide an exhibition inspired by George Eliot's novel Middlemarch, as well as staging an adaptation of Christie Watson's best-selling memoir The Language of Kindness from 20 May 2021.

The Belgrade will present a National Theatre Connections play, created alongside Belgrade Youth Theatre.

According to the programme, as restrictions ease, what is described as a "Summer of Surprises" will allow citizens, and visitors once restrictions ease, to enjoy events, experiences and culture once again.

Paines Plough will also host a season – you can read more about that here.

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