Wendy Slimane, Sarah Chew and and John Raine
This year’s TechFest festival will officially open with a new show fresh from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which invites the audience and their mobile phones to create an interactive musical comedy.
Foxdog Studios – made up of IT consultants Lloyd and Pete – will bring their award-winning Tomorrow’s Office show to Aberdeen on Monday, September 16.
Following last year’s hit show Robot Chef, where the audience controlled the pair’s robot chef from their phones, their new inventions include a musical mop, a souped-up sausage cannon and a pair of light-up bongo boots.
Tomorrow’s Office will get underway at 7.30pm at the ONE Tech Hub on Schoolhill. Tickets are on sale now, priced at £4 or £3 concession, available from Eventbrite.
The show marks the official opening of the North-east’s annual festival of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) for 2019.
With a theme of Made in Aberdeen, TechFest’s new programme of workshops, shows and presentations will run until September 28 at venues across the city.
One of the aims of TechFest 2019, which is supported by joint principal funders BP and Shell, is to engage young people in the four main STEM subjects and encourage them to go on to follow a career which utilises these skills by demonstrating that they are both fun and relevant in day to day life.
Sarah Chew, managing director of TechFest, said: “We are excited to welcome Foxdog Studios back to TechFest for another hilarious show that relies on audience participation as technology – and anything could happen!
“Their Robot Chef show was a huge success with audiences last year and we know the crowd is in for another fun-filled hour this time. There is nothing like this on the comedy circuit at the moment, so we are thrilled to have Lloyd and Pete with us for the 2019 festival.”
TechFest 2019 will host some of the most influential and prolific STEM speakers in the UK in a range of engaging and informative events, suitable for audiences of all ages.
Festivalgoers can learn about the Aberdeen scientists responsible for world-changing discoveries including the cure to diabetes and the equation behind mobile phones in Scot Free Tours: Science and the City Tour (September 21) and explore the world’s first whole body MRI scanner which was developed and built in Aberdeen at the Mark-1 MRI Scanner Exhibition (accessible 24 hours a day).
Other highlights include the opportunity to hear more about Aberdeen’s resident dolphins at the Dolphins at the Battery: Aberdeen’s Circular Showcase talk (September 26) and experience one of the most ambitious marine engineering projects in Scotland for decades at the Aberdeen Harbour Expansion Project Visitor Centre Tour (September 28).
Local food and drink suppliers will also be celebrated with Aberdeen’s only microbrewery opening its doors to the public for the Fierce Beer Brewery Tour (September 25) and Adrian Gomes of 10 Dollar Shake discussing production techniques and fermentation in Science of Champagne (September 27).
Pyrotechnician and broadcaster Matthew Tosh will ensure the festival finishes with a bang as he creates colours, sound effects and perfectly timed explosions to music in closing event Fireworks: Real Science or Just Bangs? (September 28).
Sarah added: “None of this would be possible without the help we receive from our sponsors and supporters, in particular our joint principal funders Shell and BP, whose continued backing allows us to engage people of all ages in the fantastic opportunities that STEM can offer.”