I enjoyed Domestic Science even though, for a short while, I had a hairy man wiggle his butt in my face.
Don’t worry; he was fully closed, it didn’t last long and he was pretending to be the sun. It all makes sense.
Domestic Science down in the basement of The Canon’s Gait in the Canongate is part of the PBH’s Free Fringe. It stars Rob Wells and Helen Arney (who’s in a number of shows, including the Festival of the Spoken Nerd), a real life couple, laugh us through a comedy science packed with household science.
However, it’s not just Rob and Helen as each night as two guest comedians – it is possible to pick your guest in advance as they’re detailed on this flavours.me site. The geek in me approves of the unusual application of the personal branding platform.
We went on the 13th and saw Alex Edelman, who I keep hearing about, and a very young but very funny Eleanor Curry. No really, Eleanor Curry is very young, still in school but shows more comedic skills then many of the comedians I’ve seen in festivals past.
Rob and Helen are funny. They’re funny and geek culture smart. You would think it’s a niche slot that appeals to this geeky reviewer and a few others – but the event was pretty packed. That’s impressive because the slot is at 12. The Fringe tends to much quieter before lunch.
In the show we discovered the amazing science powers you can unleash if you mix noodles with turmeric – and there’s a dangerously high chance I’ll try just that. You meet other geeky couples thanks to some short, and pretty funny, sitcom style sketches. There’s the whole business about the sun and how the Earth travels around it, perhaps not my favourite scene but it does help wake the audience up and a live action recreation of AM radio waves.
Perhaps most interesting is an audience test that involves tearing into specially designed pieces of paper. The object of the test is simple; guess whether the joke was told by a male or female comic. Science and comedy both feel like areas where women are underrepresented. You don’t get to find out which joke was told by whom but that’s because you might tell someone else and derail the experience and whitepaper Rob and Helen say they plan on publishing. You do find out how well you did – our audience was 51% correct.
It’s hard not to enjoy some up, close and personal science meets comedy. The event is free but I recommend you have a fiver at hand so you can tuck it into the donations bucket on the way out.
