A lot of kids’ productions play on simple ideas. Not so with The Alphabet of Awesome Science playing Saturday, April 26 at the Arden Theatre.
This family-friendly one-hour show fuses rapid-fire science experiments with big sesquipedalian (long-winded) words. Expect to see fireballs, smoke and clouds in a bottle. There are explosions, fart jokes and goofy sound effects.
Created by Australia’s That Science Gang, the 20-city Canadian tour from coast-to-coast guarantees thrills, spills and messy explosions. It's a visual feast.
The show starts with Emma Bargery, who plays Professor Lexi Con, the word nerd, and David Lampard as Professor Noel Edge, the science geek. They open with a song-and-dance number about science and soon they’re racing against the clock to perform 26 science experiments in 52 minutes. That's one science experiment for every letter.
“Lexi introduces one word, and the weird words are a jumping off point for science. The audience chooses the order of the alphabet. In the pre-show we get the audience to throw letters onstage and it’s a great way to break the ice,” said Lampard.
He is the founder and driving force of That Science Gang, its creative director and leading actor Professor Noel Edge. Lampard originally earned a graduate diploma in science communication and worked as a connector between the science community and the reading public.
His skills graduated to television presenter, writer, performer and set designer for opera, cabaret and musicals. By 2019, Lampard was heavily involved in traditional theatre and recognized his artistic skills and curiosity about how the world functions was the perfect conduit for science-based theatre pieces.
“It was the type of theatre you could do in a school theatre space. It had the emotional impact with all the trappings, and I knew how to make fun for audiences of all ages.”
It took nearly five years to develop a demo, but once it started making the rounds outside Australia, theatre presenters went wild for the tightly choreographed show.
“The Alphabet of Awesome Science is a mixed bag of experiences I discovered throughout my career. When you cram it into 52 minutes, it’s chaos, but it’s fun. Every two minutes there’s something new to see and hear.”
Since the audience selects the order of letters presented, it is never the same show twice.
“We would like children to think about science and not be afraid of it. The show asks kids to geek out. We want kids to dive into their passion whether they think of it as a career or a hobby. And we want kids’ parents to laugh and walk away with nuggets of information they didn’t know before. This is one of the joys of this show and I’m excited to share it.”
The Alphabet of Awesome Science was the winner of the 2021 Adelaide Fringe’s Science at the Fringe Award and the Weekly Award for Best Kids and Family show.
The Arden show starts Saturday, April 26 at 10 a.m. Tickets are $22 to $25. Includes GST and handling charges. Visit tickets.stalbert.ca or call 780-459-1542.
