David Walliams’ bestselling children’s book, Billionaire Boy, is swapping the West End stage for a nationwide tour, stopping off in Canterbury along the way.

Billionaire Boy, which has been adapted for the theatre by the award-winning Birmingham Stage Company, will be delighting fans of all ages at the Marlowe Theatre.

“The Birmingham Stage Company have already done two incredible adaptations of my books, Gangsta Granny and Awful Auntie,” says David, who published his first children’s novel in 2008. “So I was really excited that a third book of mine was in their hands.

“It’s a story with an emphasis on jokes and silly situations and obviously the whole thing is quite surreal with someone having so much money. So it’s turned into a really fun theatre show and I loved seeing it on stage.”

Since the release of his first novel, the Boy in the Dress, 14 years ago, David Walliams has become one of Britain’s most well-known children’s writers.

His books have sold more than 45 million copies, been translated into 55 different languages and have seen the writer top the charts as the UK’s biggest-selling author for two years.

Billionaire Boy, which follows 12-year-old Joe Spud who swaps his life of luxury as the country’s richest boy for the local camp in the hopes of finding a friend, began as a novel in 2010.

Since then, it has been filmed for the BBC and, now, an acclaimed stage show.

“It’s the most brilliant thing, seeing a book that you’ve written come to life either on television or on stage,” says the 50-year-old author and TV star. “You feel like a magician because what was in your head is somehow now all real, right in front of you, so it is a very exciting thing.”

The stage show has been adapted and directed by Neal Foster, manager of the Birmingham Stage Company, and features music by Jak Poore.

Billionaire Boy is at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, from Wednesday, June 22 to Sunday, June 26. Book online here or call 01227 787 787.