You’d be forgiven for thinking that Kate Smurthwaite has got other things on her mind right now, having spoken out and coined the phrase ‘The Oasis Effect’ after numbers dropped to her shows and many others across the Fringe in the build up to and on the day of the Manchester brothers’ incredibly expensive tour date in Edinburgh. Instead, the small but perfectly formed audience get Smurthwaite’s full attention as she breezes into her tiny performance space at Little Plaza and warmly invites them to join her for her award winning interactive games show about (as she describes it herself), the greatest scientific theory of all time: evolution.
Preliminary questioning of the audience help her to determine members of four teams, each representing a great ape (Gorilla, Bonobo, Urangutan and Chimpanzee) and from that point on the game/quiz is afoot.
The show takes a humorous whistle-stop tour through many aspects of evolution, from how one species of butterfly has evolved to look much like a more poisonous variety (Batesian mimicry) to protect itself, to why a mushroom isn’t a vegetable and is more akin to a human than a plant. Each of the facts and ideas is explained gently and thoughtfully with a good dose of fun and silliness, and audience interaction levels are super high throughout, with Smurthwaite throwing in a ‘pick up sticks’ style party game with sweets and the opportunity at the end to create a human that has evolved far more effectively than we have to date.
Using just a mobile phone, presentation slides and a portable projector, Smurthwaite mixes education and comedy together well, so much so that both children and adults come away knowing much more than they did when they went in, along with a development of their scientific interest for good measure. The request for kids to get out in their back gardens to dig around and find some potential new species of insect or bug to then register on www.inaturalist.org went down very well, as did the prize for the final overall winner of a kids trowel to begin said digging.
This is a lovely show with a knowledgable presenter at the helm, and given that it is free and non-ticketed as part of the PBH Free Fringe series of shows, there really isn’t a reason for families with children aged seven to teens not to come and see it.
Runs until 24th August 2025.
