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MAYDAY-MAYDAY-MAYDAY
David Edgar is a big deal. He's the RSC’s most-produced living playwright and he's a Brummie, which for our money makes him a long-overdue Broad Street Walk of Stars star. Get on board the Edgar train by taking in his politically fierce Maydays, which is on at the RSC's The Other Place from September 27. It's got form, this one. First staged at the Barbican back in 1983 — when it won hella awards — the epic edgy-of-seaty drama spans 1956 to the 1980s and the masses' political volte-face from left to the right. It was Edgar's reaction against the Thatcher government and the loss of 1960s ideals. Sound familiar? That's because there's more than a few parallels with right now. Part of the Autumn Mischief Festival it's showing until October 20. Tickets
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FILM PICK: CRAZY RICH ASIANS
There’s been a lot written about how this is a milestone in Asian representation, and in its sprawling cast of actors from the Far East and its diaspora, it sure is refreshing. But more importantly, this is just a damn entertaining film, and the best romcom in ages. Constance Wu from Fresh off the Boat stars as an economics professor who’s surprised to discover her boyfriend is from the top 1% of the 1% when she joins him for a wedding in Singapore. It’s easy to pick apart this Cinderella fantasy’s raptures around extreme wealth as undermining its progressive credentials, or how it’s really about American attitudes to 'Asia' more than any specific society or culture, but who cares? It’s funny, the cast is winning, and it’s a fantastic date movie. Times & trailer
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REGRESSION SESSION
There are two kinds of people in this world: those who look at the picture above and want to dive headlong into it, and those who want to put clear blue water between them and it as soon as if humanly possible. The Monster is 300 metres of inflatable obstacle coursing, coming to the NEC. Claiming to be the world's largest of its kind (we can't verify there's much in the way of direct competition), tackle 42 entirely ridiculous looking obstacles, including the 18 metre Mega Slide and the optimistic-sounding Bouncy Cage of Doom. There'll be giant flamingos, unicorn ball pits, street food, live DJs and (save for the booze-free 10am slot), an under 16 count of zero. This is something like soft play for grown-ups, but on the very grandest of scales. The Monster is in town from September 21 to 23. Tickets are £23. And we'll be going twice. Or not going at all. Depending on which member of staff you speak to.
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Venue: 18/81, Thorp Street, B5 4AT; Website
Choice: Five Card Charlie (£9); Chooser: The Owners
We can't say where 18/81 is because it's secret squirrels. What we can tell you is that 23 years ago the venue was a nightclub we frequented aged 15 because the door men were, shall we say, flexible about the over 18s policy. These days the drinks offering has improved by six trillion percent, going from Red Stripe (canned) or Red Stripe (bottled), to hands-down the best pre-batched cocktails in the city. The thinking behind 18/81, and we're struggling to fault the logic, is that we spend mind-numbing amounts of time waiting for freshly made but bang-average cocktails in carbon-copy chain bars, when a short stroll from New Street Station you can get significantly better, indy-owned, almost entirely readymade drinks (save for a last minute zhoosh), inside a minute. The Five Card Charlie, pictured (aged rum, fig, walnut and dark choc) was appallingly good. Bite the block and coat your mouth with cocoa before allowing the rich, warming liquor to wash the treat down. Immediately one of the best cocktails in Brum, readymade or not. For precision, 18/81 measures its combos on scales not in jiggers, and the results are almost universally kickass. Bankers Punch was another hit, while Viva Cereza, quite brilliantly showed the difference in a drink when taken through a straw or sipped. Goodbye forever, The Alchemist.
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DIGBETH FINDING CLUB
The Mill ain't in the market for grinding flour. The fancy Digbo warehouse and event space — next to the Victorian railway arches at 29 Lower Trinity Street — is all about live music (they've already confirmed Gentleman’s Dub Club, Napalm Death and Fun Lovin’ Criminals to name a few) and did we mention they've got a rooftop garden? Get eyes and ears on the new venue before the masses, at its launch party on September 27. Find a ticket (like the "M" pictured) in one of eleven super secret Digbeth locales and you (plus one) get a night of live music from special guests and DJs, drinks, and canapes care of The Mill. Clues will be released over the next three days across the team’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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TICKETS FOR SELFIES
Your mission, should you choose to accept it — find this taxi, get a picture with it, and get busy on social. To get you all geed up for their shiny, happy production of the English classic, La Fille mal Gardée, (or The Wayward Daughter), Birmingham Royal Ballet is giving away tickets and macarons. You'll need to find that not-at-all-black, 'black' cab if tickets are what you're after and post a selfie tagging BRB in it, but to get your free macaron, all you need do is show this email at Miss Macaroon in the Great Western Arcade (while stocks last). The ballet, which includes a real-life Shetland pony, is one of those can't fail to make you grin sort of deals, and being performed at Birmingham Hippodrome from Sept 26 to 29. Tickets (from £11)
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LITERATURE FESTIVAL, OCTOBER 4 TO 14
BURGER FEST,
COMEDY FESTIVAL, OCTOBER 5 TO 14
PEAKY BLINDERS LIVE, 
TAPS, 
PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL, OCT 20
FESTIVAL OF TERROR, OCT 26 TO NOV 4
