Comedy show looks at engineering in a new light

Fresh from a two-week run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering, the show runs from 27 September at the Phoenix pub on Cavendish Square, London. Written by and starring writers and performers Matt Parker and Timandra Harkness, it follows on from the duos successful maths-based comedy Your Days Are Numbered: The maths of death. Humans V Nature is part of a growing trend to bring science and engineering to life using comedy. Along with the Academy's other public engagement activities, such as the Ingenious grant scheme, it is part of a wider drive to engage new audiences with engineering innovation in creative ways. "The show is a series of themes - we start with the obstacle and look at how engineering has helped us to overcome it," says Harkness. "For example, gravity. For thousands of years people tried to find ways to fly like birds. Then we tried filling a bag with a gas that seemed to float and voilà - the hot air balloon was born. Within two years of the first humans leaving the ground under control, someone had flown across the English Channel. Two hundred years later, we were on the moon." The Academy's head of communications and engagement, Dr Lesley Paterson, added: "Using comedy to engage audiences with engineering is a new venture for the Academy, but one which will provide a fresh take on an exciting subject as well as offering a few laughs along the way." Tickets for the show (£7/£5 concessions) are available on the door or in advance from www.humansvnature.com.