Birmingham Cabaret Festival is back, serving up several main courses of deliciously risque cabaret pieces over 10 days of flamboyant performance and edgy entertainment, in the distinctly decadent and intimate Old Joint Stock theatre. This year’s line-up offers even more in the way of wild abandoned performance to tantalise and delight. Book tickets and perhaps a table for drinks and a meal and bask in the secluded decadence of this appropriate grand dame of a venue, with delectable femme fatales, quirky comedy, beautifully crafted burlesque and award-winning extraordinary performances to surprise and delight – all up-close and impertinently personal. The infamous Footsie Club Burlesque & Cabaret evening kicks things off followed up by Richard Carpenter’s Close To You, Tina T’urner Tea Lady & Audrey Heartburn, Julie Andrews tribute cabaret Julie Madly Deeply, La Poule Plombee: Je Regrette, and one of the leading figures on the new cabaret scene Dusty Limits, billed as ‘cabaret singer compere emcee MC director and legend’. Book a table, pull up a chair for your more flamboyant alter-ego and park your inhibitions at the door.

Wed 17 May – Sat 27 May at The Old Joint Stock pub & theatre, 4 Temple Row West, Birmingham, B2 5NY. £12 www.oldjointstock.co.uk