TWO leading lights of comedy and poetry will be entertaining audiences at Otley Courthouse next month.

Award-winning performance poet Patience Agbabi will kick off proceedings by bringing her revised and revamped version of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales to the venue on Friday, May 6.

Telling Tales, being billed as "a poetry reading like no other", transports Chaucer’s pilgrims into the 21st century to create characters like a ladette Miller, a hoodie Canon's Yeoman, a rapping Parson and a self-help guru Pardoner.

The work has received widespread acclaim and been praised by fellow high-ranking poets Simon Armitage, Andrew Motion, and George Szirtes.

Helen Cooper meanwhile, Professor of Medieval and Renaissance poetry at the University of Cambridge, gave it her stamp of approval too, declaring: “Chaucer would have been proud of what he has inspired."

Shortlisted in 2015 for the Ted Hughes Poetry Prize, recipient of The Cholmondeley Award 2015 and nominated as one of the UK’s Next Generation poets in 2004, Patience’s poetry has been featured on radio and TV around the world.

An English Language and Literature graduate from Oxford University and a former Poet Laureate of Canterbury, she has also been a poet in residence at a tattoo parlour - and at Eton College.

Her performances have included readings at literature festivals around the UK including the Edinburgh Book Festival and Ledbury Poetry Festival, and at various music festivals including Glastonbury and the Soho Jazz Festival.

Her Otley performance, suitable for those aged 16 and over, starts at 8pm and tickets cost £10 or £8 in advance.

One of the UK's rising comedy stars will take the stage at the Courthouse the following day, on Saturday, May 7.

Shappi Khorsandi, on the road with her latest tour, has become a familiar guest on prime time TV and radio shows since selling out her Edinburgh Festival show in 2006.

Her TV credits include Have I Got News For You, Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, Question Time and 8 Out of 10 Cats.

She has also written a best-selling book, A Beginner’s Guide to Acting English, and has recently been commissioned to write a drama script for BBC Television.

Known for her blend of razor sharp wit and lightning fast jokes, she will take the stage at the Courthouse to deliver her new show at 8pm.

Suitable for those aged 16 and over, tickets cost £14.

To book a place at these or other forthcoming events visit otleycourthouse.org.uk, call (01943) 467466 or pop into the Courthouse, on Courthouse Street, Otley.