Victoria Melody – Ugly Chief
Victoria’s Dad, Mike Melody (TV antique dealer celebrity) was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Victoria was put in charge of planning the funeral her Dad would want – complete with eulogies, a congregation dressed in tangerine Blackpool FC colours and a New Orleans jazz procession. A year later the doctors realised they had misdiagnosed Mike. But the funeral is going ahead anyway…
To make this show Victoria trained to be a funeral director. Using those experiences and extensive research Ugly Chief looks at the British funeral industry and how we deal with death in modern society.
Ugly Chief is a eulogy for a living soul. It explores the taboos around death and its practicalities, and the fractious relationship with a parent whose opinions you don’t always agree with.
These performances are part of the development process of this new piece and will include a short after show discussion.
Created and performed by Victoria Melody and Mike Melody. Supported by Arts Council England and The Spire, originally seeded by greenhouse. Victoria Melody is produced by Farnham Maltings.
Buy a ticket for both Ugly Chief and Bright Colours Only on Saturday 29 Oct for £14/£10 concession. With a full price ticket for each show in the basket, go to the promo code bar at the bottom of the page, enter DEATHDEAL to process the Full Price ticket offer (£14), and DEATHDEALOFFER to process the concession ticket offer (£10).