Science Adventures: Deep Sea is playing at the Pleasance Courtyard Green venue until 20th of August.
First impressions are that it is highly child friendly, with a cartoonish submarine set and other ocean-based paraphernalia dotted around. Even more enticingly a big red button saying ‘Do Not Push’. It’s a guaranteed way to hold a child’s attention.
Lights up and we’re off on a gentle adventure, which pits a wacky professor against a new recruit to try and uncover the best marine research possible. This plays out as three stories of varying mild (make that very mild) peril and sea based information.
It’s there that the show lags a little. I feel my daughter was the right age for the show at 8, as she’s studied a lot of what they delivered. However, she was probably the oldest child in the audience and the show feels a touch overlong at an hour, very wordy and fact oriented. I could see that a fair bit went over the heads of the youngest in the room.
However, we are won back by the consistent energy of the two actors and fun puppeteering. If Science Adventures: Deep Sea want to engage a broader age range, then less talk, more audience participation and even more puppets would be a good start.
Ultimately though, Science Adventures: Deep Sea is classic Theatre in Education, working to a brief to educate and there is plenty of information in there to take away with you. A solid children’s show that’s wacky, humorous and gentle.
