Women and Theatre in association with mac, present The Palace of Wasted Dreams, which opens on 3 February at mac.

The show is a culmination of a two year project, Wasted, which explores womens relationship with alcohol through participatory musical theatre.

Get a skinful of intoxicating, interactive theatre as mac’s new theatre space transforms into The Palace of Wasted Dreams; a place where anything can happen, and something always does; a place that can take you out of yourself, where you can feel alive and get involved, with all the thrills of a great night out!

With a cast of 25 community  performers, along with professional faces, including Janice Connolly (aka Barbara Nice), the show features original songs, accompanied by an eclectic House Band, laced together with stories told from the bottom of a glass.

The Palace of Wasted Dreams is on at mac from 3 – 5 Feb and 9 – 12 Feb. To book tickets call mac on 0121 446 3232 or book online.

SHOUT is:

Birmingham’s first ever dedicated festival by and for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community

There’s an impressively packed schedule of things going on from 28 October to 30 November with arts, sport and politics all accounted for. With such a variety, picking out highlights can be a little tricky. Ben’s picked out his personal highlights over on BiNS while David Viney, one of the organisers, has sent me some suggestions from the more arty side of things:

• 3-6 Nov – Birmingham Queer Open – The work of artists from around the world will be projected onto prominent city centre buildings
• 6-27 Nov – CORPUS QUEER: A Del LaGrace Volcano Retrospective – A major retrospective of the work of Del LaGrace Volcano
• 14 Nov – ‘Troubling Desire(s) in Art’: Queer Symposium – Speakers include: Del LaGrace Volcano, Jonathan D Katz, Dominic Johnson, David Dibosa and Mandy Merck. The symposium will be chaired by Gavin Butt of Goldsmiths
• 19-21 Nov – The Pansy Project – Paul Harfleet will plant pansies along Hurst Street; the installation will reclaim the street and create a living memorial to homophobic abuse experienced in the gay village area and the wider city

I’d also chuck in Matthew Bourne’s Dorian Gray at the Hippodrome (10-14 Nov) which looks pretty interesting, and Mrs Barbara Nice’s Comedy Masterclass (1 Nov).

All the info’s on the SHOUT website and there’s an online version of the festival brochure here.