Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre this week unveiled a new look to go with an ambitious strategic vision focusing on co-creating work with and inspired by local communities.

Under the rallying call ‘Sharing Coventry’s stories since 1958’, the new brand was presented by Creative Director Corey Campbell and Chief Executive Laura Elliot with Chair Jonothan Neelands on Thursday 29 February for invited guests including local artists, audience members, funders and investors. The presentation included work-in-progress performances, interviews with project partners from the local community, and a short promotional film to go with the refreshed website.

The new look was devised after extensive consultation and testing with stakeholders including audiences, local artists, participants, staff, trustees, funders and partners across education, healthcare, and the arts industry. It accompanies a new business plan to strengthen and grow the theatre’s reputation towards 2030.

The Belgrade Theatre’s unique history as a post-war community symbol of peace and reconciliation, famously named in recognition of a gift of timber from the Serbian capital, is strongly reinforced at the core of the vision. The theatre has long been recognised for its pioneering work over decades in Theatre-in-Education and is deeply engaged in creating projects with communities. With increased investment from Arts Council England, it announced last year a major expansion of producing capacity including five new roles running innovative programmes across the city.

Future artistic work fulfilling the new vision already underway or in development includes Swim, Aunty Swim! by Siana Bangura directed by Madeleine Kludje (May/June 2024), a new retelling ofRomeo & Juliet directed by Corey Campbell (spring 2025), and Nanny Maroon the West African who escaped enslavement in Jamaica (spring 2026). This work will have co-creation at its heart, with local communities closely involved with these productions – for example, some of the music in Romeo & Juliet will be made with pupils from Extended Learning Centres in the region.

The launch event also coincided with Seaview, a three-part urban sci-fi drama, being streamed on Amazon Prime. This 2021 City of Culture project, developed by Corey Campbell during the pandemic, was shot predominantly in Coventry.

Following the best attended Pantomime in decades (2023/24), popular touring shows continue to grow at the Belgrade with record numbers of new and returning audiences since the lockdown period. Further co-productions are in progress with Bristol Old Vic and Hackney Empire, with Rose Theatre, tiata fahodzi, China Plate and Talawa; and tours of The Woman in Black, Shrek the Musical, Sister Act and the return of SIX are proving popular with new and long-standing audiences.