Zurich Salon presents “BrainSexComedy” at Denkfest
Zurich Salon and the Denkfest, four days (11-14 September) of science, critical thinking and intelligent entertainment, are jointly hosting a night of comedy at the Volkshaus Zurich on Thursday 11 September.
Zurich Salon presents, fresh from the Edingburgh Fringe Festival, Timandra Harkness’s acclaimed BrainSexComedy, and her argumentative rat, Socrates, in English.
The Denkfest’s part of this double-billing is filled by Günther Paal’s acclaimed Kabarett: Gunkl. The Austrian science comedian’s cabaret prods and probes «The great insults to mankind» or, as he puts it, «Die großen Kränkungen der Menschheit», in German.
You don’t need Science qualifications to enjoy the irreverent mix of comedy, video, songs, gameshows & live experiments on the audience in BrainSex.
Men read maps better, but women read emotions — so say brain scientists. Is the secret of human behaviour inside our skulls? Can neuroscience explain why Timandra throws like a girl but thinks like a bloke? You’ll never look at your anterior cingulate cortex the same way again. Or a map. ‘effortlessly engaging and a pleasure to watch’
Timandra Harkness’s shows get great reviews:
★★★★ THREE WEEKS ‘science is now sexy… witty… and her comic timing is excellent’
★★★★ BROADWAY BABY ‘as spectacularly entertaining exercise for the brain, it’s a winner’
★★★★ THEATRE BATH PREVIOUS PRAISE FOR TIMANDRA HARKNESS ‘Harkness has a deadly wit’ SCOTSMAN Your Days Are Numbered: ‘exponentially funny’
★★★★ THREEWEEKS ‘Fun and thought-provoking’
★★★★ CHORTLE.CO.UK Humans V Nature: ‘entertaining and unique’
★★★★ THREEWEEKS ‘Lots of funnies’
★★★★ SGFRINGE.COM
Recommended reading:
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ED2013 Comedy Review: BrainSex (Timandra Harkness)
Three Weeks
Drawing on the work of academic experts from universities across the UK, entertaining and well produced VT, and an erudite but accessible understanding of her source material, Timandra Harkness makes this comic lecture effortlessly engaging and a pleasure to watch. Starting from the premise that you don’t teach people, you show them something interesting and then they teach themselves, she free-associates the comic, every-day applications and overlaps between neurology, psychology and philosophy with an unguarded, personal account of her investigation into what makes a brain male or female. -
Brainsex – Assembly George Square, Edinburgh
The Public Reviews
There’s interactive stand up, sit downs, chocolate thrown out, (safe) electric shocks and a whole raft of costume changes that would put Beyoncé to shame. One video might drag on a little, but on the whole, this is a tight and fun show that would encourage anyone with or without an interest in science to pop along.
There’s every risk this could turn into that time when your teacher tried to be ‘cool’ and ended up being embarrassing. On the contrary, you’ll walk out wishing that Timandra Harkness had been your teacher because if she had, it would have been far more interesting. -
Intelligenz kann auch witzig sein
ÖH Salzburg
Ein Kabarett besteht, laut Theorie, aus einzelnen Nummern, die oft auch musikalisch untermalt werden und ein Gesamtkonzept ergeben. Gunkl, eigentlich Günther Paal, präsentiert uns auf der Bühne aber kein herkömmliches Kabarett. Weder Instrumente noch andere Utensilien benötigt er, um das Publikum zwei Stunden lang in seinem Bann zu halten. Lediglich seine Ausführungen über die großen und kleineren Kränkungen der Menschheit tragen zur Unterhaltung bei. Und dabei sind diese gar nicht so kränkend, wenn man sie mal genauer betrachtet. So komplex sich die Themen anhören, so humoristisch bringt Gunkl sie einem näher und dekonstruiert dabei häufig Annahmen, die gesellschaftlich meist unhinterfragt bleiben.