Ernest Rutherford: Everyone Can Science!
New Zealand's mustachioed Nobel Prize-winning physicist gives us a crash course in science.
Overview
Ernest Rutherford: Everyone Can Science! is a smart, fun and slightly absurd solo comedy written and performed by an on-form Nic Sampson, a 2015 Billy T nominee and Jono and Ben head writer.
The premise is simple: atom-splitter and $100 note adorner Ernest Rutherford (to be addressed as the Father of the Nuclear Age, never as ‘Papa’) has risen from the grave to grudgingly deliver one final lecture at Basement Theatre.
Sporting a pornstache and tailcoat, Sampson embodies a 19th century mad scientist with truckloads of wit and charm – his energy is so infectious that his requests for audience participation were never declined, with some members getting so into it they came close to stealing his thunder.
You may not learn much about nuclear fission (or even get a sense of who Rutherford was as a person) but you can watch Sampson duel Albert Einstein aboard the Titanic, perform everyone’s favourite primary school science experiment, and schmooze his poor wife Mary (played by a broom in a white scarf, followed by an unsuspecting woman in the back row – nowhere is safe). In every scene, Sampson’s Rutherford is meticulously realised and pure joy to watch.
Everyone can Science! is for everyone, whether you enjoy bad chemistry puns or are secretly seeking a public forum in which to show off your beatboxing skills. Catch it before the season’s over, and if you enjoy yourself, go again – no two shows are the same.
Ernest Rutherford: Everyone can Science! plays out at the Basement Theatre from September 8 – 19.
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