Know It All?
Punk Science
Gilded Balloon Teviot @ 15:15 6th – 27th (not 14th, 21st) £8.00 (£7.00), £9.00 (£8.00)
**
Dan and John have the bold claim of being the UK’s only public funded science comedy troupe. Their publicity spiel refers to them as ‘two idiots from the Science Museum’; like being told that something is zany, this should rightfully fill you with dread.

The show promises to answer the big questions asked by the public, but many of the topics they answer are lightweight, puerile, and insignificant. If you want to be informed and entertained, you’d be better off viewing an edition of QI. A few strong tit-bits of knowledge were littered through the show but the majority of subjects were crass and trivial.

I was expecting an array of visually enticing experiments but was terribly disappointed. A couple of demonstrations with dry ice or liquid nitrogen were not enough to wow or entertain me; I’ve seen more stimulating displays in science lessons as a school boy.
This show purports to be for adults, but is inherently childish, in content and presentation. I couldn’t help thinking that we were merely being cheated with a mildly adapted version of what they would perform for schoolchildren during term-time, simply adding in a few sexual references and swear words.

Considering the science angle, they made appropriate use of slides and a video segment; as well they should, but a short section involving a puppet was rushed, stupid, thrown away, and consequently didn’t even get it’s point across.

There were amusing moments but based on Punk Science’s origin, I wanted so much more, you may well feel that you’ve wasted your money not only on the ticket price but also through their ‘public funding’. Having said that; do see this if you want to see a man cryogenically freeze his penis, or at least pretend to.

by Ian Phillips