A drama group from the Northcott Theatre came into QE to perform the cutting edge show called 'Beyond My Control' to our Year 10 students.

It was an innovative collaboration with The University of Exeter Mathematics department, that aspired to investigate the maths and science behind epilepsy through the medium of interactive drama.

The show was fascinating and well received by the students with comments such as "It was good to see how maths is used in the real world” and “It helped me learn about maths and science in a different way” being common amongst the feedback received.

Using the backdrop of a family conversation about a young couple moving in together, the audience got to select what might happen next, by altering the character's range of influence over each other and thus changing the network flow and dynamics of the situation. They compared this to a brain wired up to different points, with an electrode to measure the electric flow between different nodes so they could analyse when an epileptic fit might occur. For the students, it was a new type of maths, that could be applied to a lot of different life situations such as traffic control or even classroom management.

At the end of the performance, there was an informative session with a University mathematics researcher who fielded a wide range of questions. Overall it was a very positive and informative afternoon for everybody involved.

John Wright