Theatre meets science at Manchester Library show

May 14 2008 by Michael Green, Chester Chronicle

UNLIMITED Theatre presents a mind blowing look at how theatre and science can work together with

The Ethics of Progress at The Studio, Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester from Friday, May 23–Saturday, May 24.

In a mind melting, jargon free tour of leading edge quantum physics, Unlimited’s artistic director, Jon Spooner, explains how in the course of researching quantum teleportation for material in a new show, his understanding of the world and everything in it was radically altered.

Through his conversations with Professor Vlatko Vedral, who heads up the Quantum Information Group at the University of Leeds, he found that scientists can already teleport very small balls of atoms, estimating that it may only be another hundred years before we are able to teleport objects and ultimately people.

The Ethics of Progress is a witty and accessible look into explaining the concepts of Superposition, Wave Particle Duality, Quantum Entanglement and Teleportation.

As theoretical physics is pushed into real life situations, Unlimited Theatre show the audience a world as it might be in the future, and the ethical, political, religious and philosophical impacts this extraordinary technology could have on human civilization.

Formed in 1997, the core creative team of Unlimited Theatre is Clare Duffy, Liz Margree, Jon Spooner and Chris Thorpe. Under the leadership and artistic direction of Jon Spooner, the company makes new work for the theatre through collaborative writing and devising processes that tour extensively in the UK and increasingly overseas.

Jon Spooner is an actor and director who has performed across the world, including Germany, Zimbabwe, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Ukraine and the USA. Previously for Unlimited Theatre.

Professor Vlatko Vedral heads up the Quantum Information Science Group at the University of Leeds and has a PhD in physics from Imperial College in London.

He has worked as a senior lecturer in physics at Oxford University, is a visiting professor at the Universities of Singapore and Vienna and is a senior scientist at the Schrodinger Institute in Vienna.

The Ethics of Progress can be seen on May 23-24 at The Studio at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. Ring the box office on 0161 833 9833 or visit www.royalexchange.co.uk.