Stage set for brand new interactive theatre performance

The typically contrasting spheres of drama and science will come together for an exhilarating, hands-on performance at Exeter’s Northcott Theatre on Thursday, March 9th.

The show, entitled “Beyond My Control”, is the brainchild of the Northcott’s Artistic Director Paul Jepson and mathematicians Professor John Terry and Dr Wessel Woldman from the Living Systems Institute of the University of Exeter.

The innovative theatrical performance will bring understanding of brain networks, seizures and epilepsy by combining improvised scenes and statements from people with lived experience of epilepsy that build upon world-leading mathematical research performed at the University of Exeter.

Speaking ahead of the performance, Professor John Terry said: “It’s amazing that a chat over coffee with Paul about ways of bringing science to life could have ended up with a performance like this.

I really hope that by bringing complex networks to life through theatre we can advance the public understanding of what it means to have epilepsy and the impact that our research can have.”

The Northcott’s Artistic Director Paul Jepson added: “Performance and mathematics?  You've got to be kidding! I've always been attracted by the unpredictable.  It's fundamental to any theatre practice.

How wonderful to imagine a route to performance that is based on a new set of rules.  This is exactly what 'Beyond My Control' offers.  The liberating opportunity to engage creativity with a mathematician's erudite modelling.”

‘Beyond My Control’ is part of the Exeter Northcott’s IMPACT programme, which uses interactive performances to promote understanding of the University of Exeter’s world class research.It is funded by the EPSRC (Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council) through an Impact Accelerator Award.

Tickets for the performance at the Northcott Theatre are priced at £5, with groups of more than 10 getting an 11th ticket for free.