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Billed as "The Show that Laughs in the face of Science", this is the live stage version of the irreverent TV science show. An opportunity to join the Brainiac team as they endeavour to find answers to such mind boggling questions as 'What is the slidiest bathroom product?' and 'What is the best way to spin an office chair?'.
This live stage show is filled with loud bangs, flashes, smoke, and even blasts of heat from repeated explosions - but even so, the overall effect is a decidely lightweight version of the TV show that spawned it. Of course there are restrictions imposed by scale and safety requirements that limit what can be done indoors in front of a live audience, but even accounting for that this show for me fell somewhat short of the spirit of the TV version. It is true to say that the children in the audience, of which there were many, seemed to enjoy it immensely, but there was little to generate any real interest for the adults. Even for the kids, the educational aspect was lost as the opportunities to explain the science were often missed or glossed over.
The team of 'professional' brainiacs do enter into the spirit of things willingly enough however, and have no problem gaining volunteer assistants from amongst the youngsters in the audience. Ben Enwright who is our personable master of ceremonies, introducing the experiments and giving some meagre explanation as to the science. He is ably assisted by five lab coated assistants (Joe Rowntree, Rik Warren, Marc Featherstone, Dean Burne and Niki Smith), who work hard to make the most of the rather limited material and do succeed in adding some comic touches.
A good show to take the kids along to but not a great deal to offer for unaccompanied discerning adults.