We’re delighted to be welcoming award-winning theatre company One Tenth Human to Attenborough Arts Centre this Saturday (Oct 24) with their latest STEM-inspired family adventure. Ahead of their visit, we caught up with the team for a short Q&A to find out more about what audiences can expect!

So Unfair is a theatrical, interactive science demo with a twist. Help Dan Bye save the day in an exciting adventure full of engineering challenges, bad dad jokes, molten chocolate and featuring real engineers Zooming in from across the UK. Aimed at 7-11 year olds, it’s inventive, engaging and tons of fun – and was created in collaboration with the Engineering Department at Lancaster University.

Can you tell us a little about So Unfair (and your role in it)

Sarah (Director): It’s an interactive science demo with a twist, where the kids are the heroes of the adventure. They help Dan work out how to tell the story, work out how to solve the problems. They talk to real engineers, and they talk to Toni-Dee, another performer who’s trapped in a lift and needs their help.

Toni (Performer/Co-Creator): Don’t spoil it for your little ones, but I never actually appear live in the show! My entire performance appears via video call, and I’m stuck in a lift – with a pregnant lady.

Dan (Lead Performer/Creator): As well as me and Toni, the kids also meet two real engineers, Zainab and Jenny, who Zoom in via video. The audience participate in interactive engineering challenges to solve some of the problems, and they also help me make a mess!

Sarah: And the kids help Dan save the day!

Dan:…even if it gets a bit messy!

Toni: We’ve combined a lot of the things that we think are great to make this show. It’s an approach to engineering that feels accessible and fun and allows kids to come up with solutions – letting them help, making them the protagonists and showing that they can make a difference.

Sarah: We made the show by talking to all kinds of engineers and children about what’s important to them: what’s fair in the world, what’s not fair, what would they like to change, what would they like to make better. And so the show grapples with some really big ideas about global inequality and climate change and how to use engineering to make the world a better place. It’s a show that’s full of hope.  

What’s your favourite part of the show and does it ever change?

Dan: What’s brilliant is that no show is ever the same. I love all the bits that are slightly different each time. The kids come up and join in, and shout out suggestions, and do activities and those bits never go the same – and that’s exciting! It certainly keeps me on my toes!

Toni: My favourite part of the show is the use of real-life engineers to assist our mission. Plus the balance of ridiculous dad jokes with a really heartfelt story.

Sarah: It’s inspired by nature – the bees in this are very important – and like bees, we work together as performers and audience and engineers.

Why do you think children get so much out of it?

Dan: They love meeting real engineers, and learning a bit about what engineers actually do. I think it’s also useful for the show that there’s someone involved in the show who knows what they’re talking about!

Toni: As Sarah said, it’s important to us that this is an adventure where the kids are the heroes. They like having the opportunity to come up with the solutions and shout out suggestions.

Dan: Honestly, I think what the kids enjoy is watching a grown-up, me, being an idiot, and getting things wrong, and making a mess of himself and everything else.

Sarah: And I think it’s that experience of feeling connected to something as well – being a part of a group and seeing something get made and working (or not working!). Also, it’s just lots and lots of fun and silliness. A very big laugh.

What 5 words would you use to describe So Unfair? 

Dan: Funny. Silly. Messy. Important. Exciting.

Toni: Chocolatey, brain-stretching, messy, bold, silly!

Sarah: Ridiculously good fun all round.

We cannot wait! To book your place with pay what you can tickets, click here to visit our webpage.