DEAD SET RETURNS TO THE PEACOCK THEATRE

Twenty-two years later — Hobart theatre legends Ian Pidd and Sue Giles are back with a much-loved show

“Do not miss it.” ***** — Planet Stage, Melbourne
“Hilarious! It is the perfect show.” ***** — Adelaide Advertiser

HOBART, 31 MARCH 2016 — Ian Pidd and Sue Giles are returning to Salamanca Arts Centre’s Peacock Theatre with a show they toured nationally in the nineties, Dead Set.

The acclaimed production, part cabaret, part comic parable, is also a love story. Pidd and Giles are partners in life, as well as in performance.

They describe Dead Set as, “A rollicking musical theatre work about secret lives, compulsive liars and the making of the Great Australian Musical.” The show played to sell-out houses and five star reviews when it first toured throughout the country in 1994.

Ian Pidd recalls bringing the show to the Peacock Theatre back then:

“We’ve always loved [the Peacock Theatre]. You can do big things and small things in there and it works. By the time we brought Dead Set here we’d been performing it all over the country for a couple of years so it was humming along…. Our strongest memory is of how much fun we were having with the audience.”

Dead Set opens on Wednesday 6 April, with a $10 ticket preview show on 5 April.

“An otherworldly entity, a curse and some inspired physical comedy keep things unexpected, and despite its historical character the performances couldn’t be more lively. Perhaps we’ll see them again in another 20.” — Sydney Morning Herald (2014)

DEAD SET
Presented by Shaken and Suspicious
Written, Composed and Performed by Ian Pidd and Sue Giles
TICKETS: $25.00/$18.00
BUY ONLINE https://events.ticketbooth.com.au/event/dead-set or at the door.

PERFORMANCES:
Tuesday 5 April 2016 @ 8:00pm (PREVIEW – all tickets $10)
Wednesday 6 April 2016 @ 8:00pm
Thursday 7 April 2016 @ 8:00pm
Friday 8 April 2016 @ 8:00pm
Saturday 9 April 2016 @ 4:00pm AND 8:00pm

MORE ABOUT THE SHOW
Dead Set is an outrageous love story that deals with lies and desire, set to music. With a Supernatural Aid, multiple costume changes and a rabid dog… all dressed up as the Great Australian Musical, Dead Set is a heart wrenching winner. You’ll certainly laugh… you might even cry!

Susan Giles and Ian Pidd are now well know for their directing work. Giles as the AD at international kids theatre powerhouse Polyglot and Pidd with Snuff Puppets, Men Of Steel, The Village and others. However the pair made their names writing and performing a series of highly entertaining theatre cabaret works that toured nationally and internationally in the 90’s under the company title Shaken and Suspicious. Dead Set was the dead set hit of them all.

The piece is a highly entertaining musical play about truth and lies and the nature of human identity. It tells the story of Lional Tonks, painfully shy maths teacher, who is leading a hidden double life as the writer of musicals. He puts an ad on a website seeking a writing partner and meets Verity Charity – a charismatic compulsive liar who holds a guilty secret that she must keep from Lional at all costs.

They set about writing The Great Australian Musical – which becomes a classic play-within-a-play. A supernatural encounter creates a life and death challenge for Verity, which she looks incapable of meeting… can she tell the truth for 24 hours? The final sequence, set high above the traffic on the outside ledge of a mythical skyscraper, will have you sitting on the edge of your seat. The piece is funny, physically clever and genuinely heartwarming.

During its initial tour the piece played to sell out crowds all over the country including Sydney’s Belvoir Theatre, Melbourne’s LA Mama and Atheneum Theatres and famously and with great success – a sheep shed in Rural Tasmania.

Plus, read Ian Pidd’s recent interview for Salamanca Arts Centre’s website:

http://www.salarts.org.au/news/dead-set-returns-to-the-peacock-theatre-after-22-years/
Briony Kidd, Communications and Marketing Coordinator, Salamanca Arts Centre