Dead Set

Overview

Ian Pidd and Sue Giles started out performing theatre cabaret in the '90s under the moniker Shaken and Suspicious. Since then, the couple have made their names as some of Australia’s top directors — Giles with acclaimed international children’s theatre company Polyglot and Pidd with Men of Steel and Snuff Puppets, as well as Falls Festival fixture The Village. This year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival sees them return to where it all began: Dead Set at La Mama was one of their most successful shows.

Pidd plays a shy maths teacher with a hidden double life as a musical writer. After turning to the internet for a writing partner, he meets a compulsive liar Verity Charity (Giles). The two go on to collaborate on the next Great Australian Musical, but Charity’s fondness for lies threatens to overwhelm the pair. 20 years ago Dead Set played to packed houses around Australia on a five-star tour, so Melbourne audiences should get cracking on snapping up tickets now; it’s a venue that’s as cramped as it is iconic.