Scientists on stage

When you put an actor in the role of a scientist, you often end up with a bespectacled, jargon-filled eccentric in a lab coat. But what happens when you put a scientist in the role of an actor? That’s the experiment brewing at an improvisational theatre troupe in Lausanne. In an empty classroom at the University of Lausanne (UNIL), six researchers are gesticulating and shouting at one another, their faces moving quickly between expressions of frustration, joy, amusement, and surprise. One abruptly drops to the floor and rolls over, while another covers his face in apparent despair, and a third crosses her arms and looks away from them both. It’s not an overwrought thesis defence or data collection gone awry; it’s the Monday night meeting of The Catalyst improv group, and they’re practising for their big show on Thursday. Catalysing creativity Adria LeBoeuf, The Catalyst’s founder and executive director, describes her creation as a ...