Theatre-makers still often treat scientists like nerds and seem scared by scientific ideas. It's a view challenged by this entertaining performance-cum-lecture created by Unlimited Theatre, a company with a fine tradition of seeing the beauty in scientific ideas. It is performed with quirky charm by Jon Spooner; if I'd had a physics teacher like Spooner at school, I might now be doing an entirely different job.
From the pre-show video of particles that look like a hallucinogenic 1960s artwork, to the final moments when Spooner suggests that we must all take responsibility for the future because it is already knocking at the door, this hour-long show goes on a whirlwind tour through quantum physics, taking in teleportation, superpositions and entanglement theory. Even Einstein had a bit of bother with entanglement theory, describing it as "spooky".
The cleverness of this show lies not just in Spooner's ability to explain complex ideas in an enjoyable way, but also in the way he makes us think about the consequences of new technologies. Spooner is no Luddite, but in a world where the mobile phone in our pockets utilises more complex technology than was required to put the first man on the moon, we can't put our heads in the sand about the onward march of technology.
As Spooner points out, the invention of the wheel changed the course of human history, and the wheel itself is ethically neutral: it is the use we put it to - delivering aid or sending millions to concentration camps - that matters. This unique piece of theatre matters, too, and, like the best art, makes you see the world a little differently.
