The opening season of Cabaret, Wales Millennium Centre’s vibrant new venue, has been launched – opening in February 2023 showcasing the very best in drag, burlesque, comedy, gig theatre and more.

With a provocative, joyful and sometimes wild line up, Cabaret will be a safe space for everyone to express and enjoy themselves. Tickets are on sale now at wmc.org.uk/cabaret.

Cabaret’s inaugural season features local collaborations with Cardiff Cabaret Club, Glitter Cymru and The Queer Emporium, as well as hot-ticket touring acts Big Band Burlesque and TV’s Paulus who celebrates the music of Victoria Wood.

Wales Millennium Centre’s own work will also take to the stage. Luke Hereford’s heart-warming show Grandmother’s Closet returns following an award-winning run at the Edinburgh Fringe, and Queerway – produced by Leeway Productions with support from RCT Theatres and Wales Millennium Centre – will debut telling life stories of LGBTQ+ people from Rhondda Cynon Taf.

Cwm Rag, a gaggle of LGBTQ Welsh drag performers, will celebrate and interrogate what it means to be Queer and Welsh in their bilingual show, while translator-turned-comedian Steffan Alun will treat Cardiff’s audiences to Comedy Translates – a bilingual comedy night (sort of) featuring some of the Welsh language scene’s best acts.

Relaxed matinee performances are on offer for people living with dementia for Grandmother’s Closet and Judy & Liza, a sensational musical that tells the turbulent tale of Hollywood’s mother-daughter duo. Mothers, daughters and people who menstruate will also be ‘edu-tained’ with Blood, Glorious Blood!, a taboo-busting show celebrating menstruation.

The programme has been curated by producer, Peter Darney, who masterminded two sell-out adult Christmas cabaret shows at Wales Millennium Centre – XXXmas Carol(2021) and The Lion, the B!tch and the Wardrobe (2022).

Peter Darney said: “With Cabaret we wanted to create as diverse a programme as possible and to make sure that it remained affordable in such difficult times. It’s going to be wild, provocative and fun.

“There’s a Bhangra night, dementia friendly performances, and something for the young and the young at heart. We want to create a special community here in South Wales – a safe space where you can be yourself, find yourself, and lose yourself.”

Cabaret is part of Wales Millennium Centre’s ongoing transformation into a creative hub for everyone. The dedicated venue will seat around 120 and serve emerging and eclectic talent like nowhere else in Wales, bringing a taste of Soho to Cardiff Bay.

The venue has been designed to make everyone feel at home with accessible and gender-neutral facilities.

Events range from £7 – £20, with discounted tickets available for those who are living with a disability, students, under 30 or unwaged. See the full season information at www.wmc.org.uk/cabaret.