Physics show back home for city science festival

Aug 27 2008 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post

SCIENCE and musicals don’t often get the chance to mix, but may have more in common than first appearances would suggest.

That’s the belief of the team behind Big Bang!, a show presenting “physics, life, love and the universe like you’ve never seen them before”.

Singer songwriter Phil Freeman teamed up with physics lecturer Dr Dominic Dickson to create the show, which has gone from strength to strength since its debut at the Picket in 2005.

A production at the Gothenberg Science Festival followed, then a successful Liverpool run in 2006.

Now it returns as part of the BA Festival of Science with a team of performers from Liverpool Theatre School.

Aimed at young people, the show begins as a boy-meets-girl tale and then, when the chance of romance passes two promising students by, catches up with the main characters 20 years later when both are in the running for a Nobel prize.

Meddling in proceedings across the space-time continuum are Einstein, Marie Curie, Galileo and Isaac Newton, who get to belt out numbers of their own.

With songs including the Relativity Tango, creators insist it is not a physics lesson and the onus is on entertainment.

Dr Dickson said: “I thought it would be fun to write a complete musical about science.”

The idea began to come to life after meeting up with Phil Freeman and director George Panther to result in a show they believe could have West End potential.

There are talks in the pipeline for it to be performed at another European science festival.

“We think it’s a very interesting piece that crosses the cultural boundaries,” said Dr Dickson.

“Culture isn’t just the arts, and I don’t see much difference doing a musical and scientific research.

“It uses the same set of skills to think the thing through, add things and take them away until you get the right results.

“Creativity and imagination is the key thing in arts and science.”

BIG BANG! is on at the Eleanor Rathbone Theatre, Bedford Street South, from September 8 to 12 . Tickets are £5 from 0207 019 4947.

vickyanderson@dailypost.co.uk