“I’d say it’s quite funny for about the first 5 mins then rapidly downhill “, says Daniel Bye of his Fringe First-winning Edinburgh show, Going Viral. “There are more laughs in it later on, but it is quite a bleak view of the world, or rather, a view which is bleak. Well. That’s really going to make people want to see it.”
It might sound less attractive than a hazmat suit, but if you’re at all interested in science and ideas you should catch it.
Going Viral is about a man who catches a plane and has his life turned upside-down by a global pandemic of highly contagious weeping. It questions how viruses (in both physiological and technological senses) spread in our modern, connected world. It’s not a show with a lot of bells and whistles: it’s a show in which an affable man from Middlesborough will introduce you to some genuinely thought-provoking science, politics and storytelling using an onion, a chilli and a really surprising number of liquorice allsorts.
It’s a very intimate show, and one which feels like a genuine dialogue with the audience. Having spent some time at drama school training with the late Adrian Howells, who was the king/queen of personal encounter theatre, I am a big fan of shows which create this sense of audience participation. I’m not talking about theatre which puts you on the spot, or embarrasses audience members for a cheap laugh. I mean theatre which is like having a cup of tea with your closest, cleverest friend, who introduces you to an amazing idea and is keen to get right to the bottom of it with you.
Bye has tackled science and technology themes before, in Error 404, and campaigning economic and environmental arguments in How to Occupy An Oil Rig and The Price of Everything. I ask him what made him think that science and storytelling could be made into a compelling theatrical experience: “Science is a story we tell ourselves about the world, and the current theories are the best stories we have at the moment,” says Bye. “Science is about how we live together in the world and how we live together in the experimental conditions afforded by that society. It’s also a way of me talking about the stuff I’m cross at the government about. Which is lots.”
In this case, science and politics are part of the conversation, along with a framing device that has the whole world weeping. I was intrigued by this, and wondered if Bye had deliberately chosen a non-gruesome disease in the wake of Ebola. “I wanted something that was a little magic-realist, fantastical, to heighten the reality – I mean, I could tell a story about flu but we’ve all seen that: we’ve seen Contagion, so I wanted something heightened,” said Bye. “When the tears thought came to me it was righter than anything, partly because I’ve been thinking about Greece ... and the world is just shit at the moment, isn’t it? I felt it would be appropriate for everyone in the world to start crying. So the idea is: is it a disease, or is everyone just really sad?”
Bye hasn’t done his prep by halves. Going Viral is show where the facts are robust, thanks to Bye’s scientific advisor Dr Mark Booth, who is senior lecturer in the school of Medicine, Pharmacy and Health at Durham University. Booth specialises in the effect of climate change on the epidemiology of diseases in Africa. Bye says he knew Booth was the right man to help him understand disease when they talked on Skype and Booth “ ... just blew my mind with his disgusting stories”. Between them (with the help of dramaturg Sarah Punshon and director Dick Bonham), they’ve created a piece with an excellent balance of information and entertainment.
I can tell you that you absolutely will learn something from this show, but that’s the very least of it. Bye is very keen to emphasise that this is not an overtly didactic experience: “Science is a big strand of Going Viral, and without it this show wouldn’t exist. But it’s a show that has a lot of science in it but isn’t about teaching you – it’s part of something more.” Ideas are contagious, and Going Viral is definitely spreading something. Go get yourself infected.
At Northern Stage at Summerhall until 30 August. Box office: 0131-226 0000, then touring.
