Monday, 7 February 2022

THEATRE REVIEW: Exciting Science - The Theatre Royal, St Helens.


This is an educational and entertaining show with fact-filled experiments which is a fun way of introducing young children to science; the producers claim the show will put the ‘exciting’ back into science.

A full house of excited youngsters, many as young as three years of age, up to about nine years old accompanied mainly by mums waited in anticipation for the show to begin; the stage set was minimal depicting a laboratory with black and yellow hazard signs displayed across the equipment.

The show is presented by Dangerous Steve, Amazing Vicki, Crazy Kelly and Mad Mike who bounced onto the stage dressed in white lab coats waving at the audience and shouting “Hello”. The noise was overwhelming as loud sirens blasted out warning noises and lights flashed as the intrepid foursome introduced themselves and explained what was going to happen in the show. They advised everyone to “stand clear and prepare for action, as this show is full of whizz, bang, pop and splurt.”

They stressed from the onset that they would be demonstrating dangerous experiments which should not be copied at home and that they would be doing them in a controlled environment and that they were professionals.

As they donned gloves and goggles, they explained that the first experiment was going to be a volcanic eruption; a catalytic combustion transformation of energy involving hydrogen peroxide of 30% volume, washing-up liquid, food colouring and potassium iodide. It was a lot of information for youngsters of three years upwards to digest; they were really there for the big bangs and explosions.

A rocket-launching demo came next involving Alka Seltzer, water and carbon dioxide; small missiles where launched upwards and into the audience. This was followed by a demo of plasma balls depicting how electricity is harnessed in glass balls; the quartet then demonstrated how electricity can flow through their bodies and into two florescent tubes whilst they were joining hands and importantly standing on rubber mats.

The foursome did their best to inject some fun into the show, firstly by asking the audience which was faster, a unicorn or a crocodile?  Not much reaction from the audience who were clearly confused as they were then introduced to two inflatables, one being a unicorn and the other a crocodile; they were divided into two teams by dividing the auditorium onto two halves, the row at the front being given the unicorn and the crocodile; they were told this was to be a contest to see who could get each one of the inflatables to the back of the auditorium and back to the stage the quickest by hitting them over their heads.

There were a couple of demos which included fire, e.g. breathing fire, “Like a dragon,” flash paper which ignited paper in the air and some which involved smoke, e.g. one included a boy and girl selected from the audience to go up on stage who helped push smoke through an apparatus as part of a contest which was declared a draw, each having pushed 28 circles of smoke through.

A request for a dad to go up on stage proved difficult as there weren’t many dads in the audience but one was found high up in the circle who once on stage was told they didn’t have a lab coat for him to wear so they tied an apron around him with an image of a woman in a bikini on it which brought a titter of laughter from the audience; they then put a hardhat on him with paper cups on, helicopter style, which were blown off with the help of a device which created air missiles; this was also brought into the audience for a demo; it was quite effective as I felt the force of one on my head.

An experiment involving filling large red balloons with hydrogen and oxygen and popping them with fire brought the biggest appreciation from the audience as the bangs produced were very loud and we were advised to put our fingers in our ears throughout the demo (although that really defeated the purpose as we wouldn’t have heard the bangs properly). Plus a demo involving large blowers and toilet paper blown into the audience brought about a good reaction.

A mum and dad were invited on stage who were worried they might have to answer some questions about science once up there, but they were relieved to find out that they were asked to draw a picture each of Albert Einstein from memory, behind a child’s easel; the easels were then turned around and the drawings were shown to the audience in comparison to a photograph which was then brought onto the stage of Einstein.

There were a couple of demos using large leaf blowers and extra-large dryers, and an adapted vacuum cleaner and questions about science were asked of the audience, scattered throughout the show.

Upon reflection, it is an innovative way to introduce science in a fun way to young children but I think the content of the show was not suitable for children of four years upwards (as it is billed); it is more suitable for children of six or seven years upwards. There are a lot of scientific names and descriptions included which I think are above the understanding of young children (and possibly some of the adults attending) and some of the content is questionable.

It is a very loud performance with the presenters having to shout above the background noises and music along with the presenters themselves having to keep the audience’s attention with waves, jokes, shouting and antics. There is audience participation which is important for this type of entertainment to keep the children amused and interested and I think overall they managed it but there are a few tweaks needed to perfect it.

The Exciting Science Show is touring various UK theatres until the end of May 2022.

Reviewer - Anne Pritchard
on - 6.2.22


No comments:

Post a Comment