Five Reasons to See … Hole in the Sky Production’s Dr Apple’s Last Lecture
This phyiscal theatre comedy explores the mind of a highly esteemed neuroscientist as he is in the
process of losing it. His students, and the audience, watch him spiral down into a world of the
subconscious. Inspired by Timothy Leary, LSD advocate, and Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroscientist who studied her own stroke, the show features music, dance and sweet treats. Here Colin Drummond, Carly Hoogendyk, and Stephanie Lane explain why you should come and see Dr Apple’s Last Lecture.
1. It’s like doing drugs.
It’ll make you feel good. Like, really good. Not to pressure you or anything. Seriously though, the show
is meant to invoke the feeling of a psychedelic drug trip. It begins normally enough, on the final day of a
Harvard neuroscience class, but then the show takes a turn for the bizarre. As Dr. Apple enters an
unexpected state of altered consciousness, we abandon rationality and delve into the realms of
memory and hallucination, where everything is possible and nothing is as it seems. The trip must
eventually come to an end, though you may find you have a craving for more…
2. The cast.
Say hello to the next generation of American actors! Banding together after college to form Hole In The
Sky Theater Company in New York City, the cast of five is young, energetic and very excited to be
performing in Edinburgh. Led by Carly Hoogendyk, who majored in neuroscience and English at
Columbia University, and Mark Junek, a graduate of Juilliard School of Drama, the show was
collaboratively devised by the di-versely talented members of the company.
3. It’s eclectic.
Dr. Apple employs a wide range of theatrical genres and styles. In the span of only an hour, you will be
treated to original music, dance, singing, bouffon, and mime. There’s really something for everyone!
4. You might learn something.
Watching Dr. Apple’s Last Lecture is nothing like attending an ordinary neuroscience lecture (snooze!),
but that doesn’t mean it won’t stimulate your mind. Everything that takes place in Dr. Apple is rooted in
actual science, and draws on the works of promi-nent neuroscientists from Timothy Leary to Jill Bolte
Taylor. It revisits many of the tenets of 1960s psychedelia, through the lens of our 21st century
undertanding of the brain and consciousness.
5. Cookies!
Everyone who sees the show gets a cookie. You could call it audience participation. We just call it
delicious.
Dr Apple’s Last Lecture can be seen from the 5-28 August at 14.30 at the Gilded Balloon Teviot.
