Selected as one of the best shows to see at the Edinburgh Fringe by Time Out and The Times. Head Set is a theatre show that explores amateur stand-up comedy and how to make peace with our divergent and messy brains.

Victoria Melody, deciding to quit her career in theatre, turns to her Plan B: the thing she’s always secretly known she’d be brilliant at… stand-up comedy. She embeds herself into the amateur stand-up scene, a world with its own rules, cultures and behaviours. Problem is, stand-up is much harder than it seems and Victoria’s has always struggled with communication and words. In her mind she sounds like a genius but what comes out of her mouth sounds like a baby, a baby woman.

Driven by an ambition to become a better stand-up, she seeks out help from a speech and language specialists, leading to a string of diagnoses. Victoria finds out at the grand old age of 40 that she’s neurodivergent. Using wearable technology and working with a neuroscientist they make a revolutionary discovery that might be a natural cure for ADHD. Head Set is a hilarious, insightful and surreal odyssey.

About the artist

Victoria Melody is an award winning British artist with a fine-art and performance background and a passion for other people’s passions. She works across art forms including theatre, film and stand-up, with and about Britain’s enthusiasts. Fascinated by anthropology, she immerses herself into communities and becomes an active participant in their rituals as research for her work.

In the past she has become a pigeon racer, northern soul dancer, championship dog handler, beauty queen, funeral director, comedian and skipper.

She documents from the inside presenting contemporary voices that are rarely heard, connecting audiences with fascinating stories that might otherwise go unnoticed. Engaging with audiences “who don’t normally go to the theatre” is at the forefront of what she does. Her work merges the personal with the political and although it can tackle difficult subjects such as funerals, neurodiversity and impossible beauty standards it does so with care, creativity, tons of humour and an ambition to make change.

Victoria has presented her work nationally and internationally at venues including the Victoria & Albert Museum, Soho Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, Battersea Arts Centre, Summerhall and Pleasance (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Cherry Lane Theatre (New York), Virginia Art Festival, Push Festival (Canada), Aarhus Festival (Denmark) and Brisbane Festival (Australia).