If you want a slightly cheaper night out than a trip to the theatre then you can be in the audience of a TV or radio show for free (at least in the UK). I've been to numerous radio shows that are recorded in the BBC Radio Theatre at the iconic Broadcasting House in central London. This week I was at my third recording of The Infinite Monkey Cage. This is a light-hearted programme about serious science presented by comedian Robin Ince and physicist/TV presenter/rock star Professor Brian Cox. They have a couple of experts plus a comedian along each time for a different topic.
After getting the train to London we grabbed a quick dinner at a posh burger restaurant and then joined the queue to get in. You get tickets by registering on-line and then it's a lottery as to whether you get any particular show you want. There's a chance you may turn up and not get in as they will give out extra tickets expecting that some will not turn up. In this case they still let in more than there were available seats for and some had to stand at the back.
We were seated upstairs, but it's a fairly small venue. It looks like it's been modified and the floor raised at some point. It's radio, so there are no fancy sets or costumes. You get an insight as to how shows are made as they will record a lot more than they use in the end and may have to do re-takes. The topic this time was antibiotics. The experts were UK chief medical officer Professor Dame Sally Davies and Professor Martha Clokie who it turned out is one of my daughter's lecturers at Leicester University. The comedian was Chris Addison. They covered a lot of topics, including using viruses (phages) to fight bacteria. Apparently that has been used a lot in Georgia and the former USSR, but is tricky as the cure needs to be matched to the precise strain of bacteria.
It's amazing how much comedy you can get from such a serious subject. They did emphasise how serious it is. Resistant bacteria are on the rise and so it is getting harder to treat common infections. We need to be more careful about what we use as there is a lack of new weapons in this fight.
I can definitely recommend going along to such a show, but I'd be wary of making a really long trip when you are not guaranteed to get in.
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