Dirty Pretty Songs

Take any song. Take your favourite song. Take the one you had your first kiss to down by the pier. Innocent. Charming. Incredibly filthy.

Sorry....what was that last bit?

Virginia Gay believes that behind every cheerful, upbeat, happy-go-lucky pop song, is a rabble rousing call to filth, depravity and general looseness of morals. She won't change the lyrics, she won't change the tune, but she'll fiddle just enough with the setting and the sounds to force you to hear the song again. For the first time. And Lord, you better lock up your earholes. This girl is coming.

Have you ever really heard the lyrics of Guy Sebastian's Love You Like That? Pure smut.

What about Mondo Rock's Come Said the Boy? Deliciously immoral.

She sings pretty songs real dirty, and dirty songs real pretty. From a frighteningly beautiful Smells Like Teen Spirit, to a devastating rendition of Radiohead's High And Dry, she will break your heart and call it playtime. Do you reckon Lady Gaga's Bad Romance can't survive light operetta? Oh... think again. Even Keating! The Musical isn't immune to her wicked mind and her stave-jumping voice.

Naughty, sexy, a little bit dirty, a little bit silly, but most of all sheer unadulterated brilliance. Nathaniel Cooper, Sunshine Coast Daily.

Every song hides a secret. Part cabaret, part expose, part guerrilla stand up comedy Dirty Pretty Songs is a foul-mouthed, twisted extravaganza of soul, sex and some of your favourite songs.

Photos: Kurt Sneddon

VIRGINIA GAY

Virginia Gay graduated WAAPA in 2005 then pretended to be a nurse for four years on Channel Seven's All Saints. Following that, she pretended to be Julia Gillard and Penny Wong for several months in the 2009 STC Wharf Revue "Pennies From Kevin". She has just started work on a new comedy/ drama for the Seven Network, Winners and Losers where she pretends to know a lot about high finance. This last one, particularly, is a stretch. She was in the Semi-Finals of season three of It Takes Two, a last minute addition to Gentlemen Prefer Blokes sell out Mardi Gras and Adelaide Cabaret Festival season, and hosts the Erotic Fan Ficition night at the Sydney Writers Festival. A popular appearance on Good News Week reminded her that her first great love was Cabaret, and she should get it drunk, lock herself in a room with it and see what happens. This show is her baby. With original appearances at Trevor Ashley's Showqueen and Late Night Lounge at the Sydney Opera House.

TOUR DATES FOR 2011