We sat down with writer, director and performer David Lampard to talk all things science, silliness, and Rice Krispie chaos in his Fringe hit The Alphabet of Awesome Science, heading to Underbelly George Square this summer.
1. For anyone new to the show — what exactly is The Alphabet of Awesome Science?
The Alphabet of Awesome Science is a scientific race through the alphabet — where rare and obscure words (like erumpent, ideopraxist and jocoserious) inspire mind-blowing scientific surprises (like fireballs, liquid nitrogen clouds and smoke doughnuts). Performed by Professors Lexi Con and Noel Edge (the Word Nerd and the Science Freak) the show is a joyful adventure that celebrates being truly passionate about the things that fascinate you — that is, it’s all about being a geek! I also like to describe the show as an alphabetical, scientifical variety hour…
2. What inspired the ‘alphabet’ concept?
Kids love big words. We all know this! They love to tell you the biggest word they know — which is usually antidisestablishmentarianism or pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. When I used to perform in schools, I’d drop big science words into shows all the time — and then hear kids mumble those words under their breath, trying them on for size. So, it struck me that ‘big words’ could be an interesting scaffold to hang a ‘science theatre’ show around. How would we explore these words? Well, the alphabet seemed a pretty obvious mechanism for that… and thus the show was born!
3. You combine science with theatre and comedy — how do you balance fun with facts?
Getting that mix right is a combination of instinct and trial an error — alongside 25 years of writing this kind of material! However, with this show specifically, it actually came down to a bit of a formula. The show comprises 26 ‘skits’ — one for every letter of the alphabet (with each letter revealing a new word and a matching science demonstration). Each of these skits is around 2 minutes long (and performed against a ticking clock) so, there’s not much room for error — It’s a tight script. I first had to distil the information I wanted to communicate into digestible chunks — and then create an entertaining story around that information. It made me pretty concise with the science, and the fun and gags kind of just evolved organically from that imposed brevity — as well as the instinct to be constantly creating something new on stage… to constantly make people sit up, sit forward and wonder what was going to happen next.
4. What’s one experiment that never fails to make the audience go “wow”?
I love how this show evokes a nuanced range of wonderfully predictable “ooos”, “ahhs” and “wows” from our audiences. It’s a tapestry of emotions I look forward to evoking from every crowd we perform for. Towards the beginning of the show there’s a balloon that explodes into a ball of flame — that always makes the audience jump in their seats, gasp in awe and then erupt into applause. Then there’s the fire tornado we unexpectedly create in a metal waste-paper basket — that always generates this wonderful murmur of audible wonderment to ripple through the crowd. Plus, there’s the sheer ecstatic joy that erupts when we pour boiling hot water into boiling cold liquid nitrogen to create a massive indoor cloud! I think I have as much fun watching and listening to the audience as they have watching the show.
5. The show is designed for kids, but do you find adults get just as into it?
Oh, absolutely, 100 percent! We often have adults approach us after the show and tell us that they were having so much fun that they forgot they had kids with them (true story!). In fact, just the other day we had a comment on one of our insta posts (that announced our return to Edinburgh) that read: “I think I may be more excited than my kids for this to be back”. Of course, we try and cater our show to both kids AND adults. Kids first. Always! But, there may also be a few jokes in our show that fly above kids heads to hit adults squarely in the funny bones.
6. And finally, what advice would you give to young people who think science isn’t for them?
It doesn’t have to be! But, increasingly, we are living in a world where not engaging with science (and scientific ideas) is nigh on impossible. With our show, we don’t expect every kid to walk out a ‘science convert’, but rather, we want to create a space where science is seen as exciting, interesting and easy(ish) to approach. By discovering that they can understand some basic science ideas, kids become better equipped to soak up more scientific knowledge when it is presented to them in other forums. That’s my hope, that this show inspires science literacy…
For tickets head to https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/the-alphabet-of-awesome-science