Tag Archives: Doktor Kaboom: UNDER PRESSURE!

‘Doktor Kaboom: Under Pressure!’ (Venue 33, until AUG 25th)

Posted in *EdFestivals 2025, 5*, Rated: Outstanding by

“I really recommend this show and I hope to see it next EdFringe.”

Editorial Rating: 7 Stars (Outstanding)

In the (hopefully) unlikely event that Doktor Kaboom decides he’s not going to come to Edinburgh in August anymore, I would genuinely be left wondering if there would be any point in EdFringe continuing. If only one of the thousands of shows on offer could be beamed out into the universe to tell alien life something about ourselves, I’d want it to be this one. This is a deeply sensitive show for young people about the pressures of the world we let ourselves build for them. It’s also a crazy, madcap science show that has our little ones bouncing in their seats with the unfiltered joy of knowing they were right to be soooooo excited about seeing this again.

We enter to discover a stage covered in scientific apparatus. There’s the table tennis vacuum cannon. There’s a smiling balloon on a Zimmer Frame walker, the latex of which keeps popping from the chill of a nearby beaker of dry ice – much to the comic annoyance of the stagehand. There’s something behind laboratory-grade shatter-proof perspex. And, is that, yes, I think it is the latest edition of the poker table hovercraft peaking from out the back? The demonstrations we are about to witness explain the scientific process. They amplify even the most latent interest in how and why the material world works. They create a soulful bedrock on which parents and carers can build the scaffolds which will support, guide, and nurture the young hearts and minds entrusted to our care.

In her EdFringe notebook, the one with Dame Katherine Grainger DBE on the cover, Daughter 1.0 (10yrs) wrote: “I really enjoyed Doktor Kabom under pressure. I thought how he got the audience to interact was amazing. He was funny and clever and made sure he (and everyone else) was safe. My favourite bit was when he got someone to ride his home-made hovercraft, made out of a plastic garden table-top and a shower curtain with three holes in it. I really recommend this show and I hope to see it next EdFringe.”

There is a moment on stage with one of the young audience members which best explains just how Doktor Kaboom has earned 21 stars from us in just 3 years. It’s got a little too much for the wee volunteer, and she wants out. Doktor Kaboom validates and celebrates her choice to stop. No fuss. No recriminations. No cheap laughs. The whole point of this show is to tell and retell kids that they have agency, they get to make choices about themselves and their space. It’s a powerful lesson not lost amid the mayhem and fun. In the lower half of Auld Father Time’s hourglass, Grandad, the Edinburgh University professor who would certainly open an airlock and vent the Fringe into space if he could, is delighted. He’s never seen liquid Carbon Dioxide before – apparently that is very cool.

Come for the rehearsed spontaneity of a show and persona that keep getting better and better. Stay for the crowd, it’s the best audience in the city. Get your Jeeves-unapproved orange tux jackets on and go see this!

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EdFringe Talk: Doktor Kaboom: UNDER PRESSURE!

Posted in *EdFestivals 2025, *Written Interviews by

“I learned that self harm among young people is on the rise as are most other mental health issues, and there is little to no awareness of it on a national level, anywhere! Families and teachers are generally on their own with no guidance or tools. No one is talking about it, so I decided to.”

WHO: David Epley

WHAT: “Be amazed by the power of pressure – and what it can teach us! Doktor Kaboom’s new show is fit to burst with astonishing live science experiments, stand-up comedy and lessons in empowerment – using the physics of pressure to explore the stresses of real life. Back for a fourth year with brand-new experiments for 2025, don’t miss this spectacular hour of ‘perfect family entertainment’ (POWShowbiz.com). Commissioned by the John F Kennedy Center for the Arts in Washington DC. ‘One of the most fun, educational and hilarious family-friendly shows Edinburgh Fringe has ever seen’ ***** (TheatreScotland.co.uk).”

WHERE: Beyond at Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) 

WHEN: 13:40 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

This is my fourth time in Edinburgh and all for the Fringe. I first came in 2022 as a bucket list event, but was immediately hooked! August has become my favorite month of the year. The exceptional confluence of incredible performers and intelligent audiences from all over the world create an incredibly unique event for everyone, every time. I simply cannot get enough of it. There are a few successful imitators around the globe, but none come close to the feel, the excitement, and the pure adventure of Edinburgh. I get to perform for fantastic audiences, see and befriend amazing performers, spend the month in one of the most beautiful cities, and live in a house filled with street performers, comedians, theatre artists, writers, it is pure joy!

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2024 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

I had an idea for a new show, based on some observations I’d made. I was able, since 2024, to put it together and see if it really had the potential I saw. I am fortunate enough to learn that it does. It is adding value to the lives of audience members, creating family memories and discussions.

Tell us about your show.

I write all of my shows, myself. This one is unique in that, while I’ve always included moments of personal empowerment in my performances, this is the first time I’ve decided to specifically take on a single primary topic. Touring after the pandemic shutdowns I came to realize that audiences had subtly changed in their behaviour. Most of my shows around the world are in large theaters with over a thousand students brought in, and I’m alone on stage with no fourth wall. I interact with them directly for the full hour. So, I get a good feel for where they are in that moment. I eventually realized students had been psychologically traumatized by the shutdowns. Looking into it, I learned that self harm among young people is on the rise as are most other mental health issues, and there is little to no awareness of it on a national level, anywhere! Families and teachers are generally on their own with no guidance or tools. No one is talking about it, so I decided to. When I began to work on the show, The Kennedy Center’s Theatre for Young Audiences Program reached out and asked to commission the piece, and we premiered it there last October. For the international premier, I reached out to Suzanna Rosenthal Productions and The Pleasance, for their assistance making it come together here. They are magnificent teams to work with, and I am so grateful to have them on my side!

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

For the whole family, I highly recommend, “Out of the Box” from Darryl J. Carrington. Darryl is a personal friend and I’ve watched him create this show from a few ideas while street performing to a full on award-winner of a show! He is multi-talented, and brilliantly comic. For adults, only, I really cannot impress enough the brilliance of “Fuselage” by Annie Lareau. Full disclosure, she is my wife, but I am in awe of what she has created. Annie was meant to be on Pan Am 103, destroyed over Lockerbie, but couldn’t afford the £75 fee to change her reservation. As a result she sat in her London flat and watched the news of 35 of her friends, along with so many others, having their lives violently destroyed. She does a masterful job with this 3-hander she has written, exploring the event’s effects on her life as well as on the people of Lockerbie. It is a piece of potent theatre about survival and being human in this modern world. See it, but bring tissue.

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