In 2025, Brainiac Live won an Olivier Award for Best Family Show. Christiana Rose met Andy Joyce, Creative Director of Brainiac, before the performance of Brainiac Live at the Garrick Theater to discuss his love of science experiments, how he authentically embodies the Brainiac family ethic, and how the unpredictability of the fun and chaos of experiments is simply incredible.
Congratulations on winning the Olivier Award. How Brainiac Live has it evolved since then?
Yes ! What a memorable night to receive an Olivier Award. We are all very happy. We’ve been a very close-knit family on the show, and I think most of us have been a part of it since almost the beginning of Brainiac Livewhich debuted in 2008. It’s really nice to be able to win an Olivier Award, it was one of the best things that happened to the series. Since then, it’s been nothing but excitement. Every time we go on stage or on tour, there’s that little extra touch that’s been added. I think it’s so special that a family show is recognized. All I can say is we had a great night that night, we all have an Olivier sitting on our mantelpiece and we still can’t believe it.
Photo credits: Mark Douet
Are you doing anything different in the show for this West End run?
We are constantly updating the show. The beauty of Brainiac Live is that everything is focused on entertainment first. We’ve added some exploding science experiments, we also use video content for scene changes, which keeps the audience engaged with the brain burners we offer. There is always something happening on stage, even when we turn from one scene to another. There are some updates and tweaks that people will notice for this tour, that’s for sure.
What first inspired you to bring Brainiac Live sur scène ?
I joined the show about 18 months after it initially opened. The idea was for it to be based on the original TV show, Brainiacand Dan Colman, the producer, had the idea of bringing the show to stage […] Then the whole journey has been how we make things that potentially shouldn’t happen on stage, happen on stage, in a way that’s safe, but also in a way that still entertains the audience. Capturing that from the original TV show and putting it on stage was the most important thing for us.
How do you balance science with visual entertainment?
The staging of the show allows us to do live scientific experiments with technical effects, comedy, audience interaction and theater of manners chaotic but comical, while ensuring that everything is scientifically correct. For us, the most important thing is that everything we do is live and real. There are times in the show where things go wrong, not necessarily in a negative way, but things don’t work out because science is sometimes unpredictable. Sometimes if we don’t put in the right amounts, we create a completely different reaction, or no reaction at all. The challenge of a live show is making sure the science is accurate and real.
What experience surprises adults and excites children?
We have an iconic scene in the show that checks both boxes. We have a simple office chair, an office chair that can rotate so you can turn around, grab something from a shelf and get back to your work. And we decided to try to spin this chair as fast as we could. We use various objects to test it, the children in the audience love it. We’ve tested this a million times, but I can tell you from experience, it makes you a little dizzy, but kids go crazy for it […]Adults get a little scared while sitting in an office chair that their kids may be trying to spin them around. So there is definitely a strong reaction from adults on this subject!
Do you have a personal favorite experience?
It’s hard for me to choose a favorite, we have a lot of brain burners on screen that disrupt your thinking a bit. You have to solve them and see how your brain works. I like to see people try to understand them.
We have a scene in the show where we test the properties of things that you can find around the house and whether you can run through them, which again is very, very important to see if you can run through that door frame covered in cling film. Can you, or can’t you? I’m not going to give you the answer, but we’re absolutely going to test this. I think it’s my favorite to do something live, something that’s happening in your home, something real. We’ll test the properties, but we’re obviously trying to do it on stage in a safe way, so you don’t have to. We’ll answer this question for you.
What’s the funniest thing that ever happened on stage? Brainiac ?
Things that go wrong! Experiments where we use liquid nitrogen. Liquid nitrogen is cold, it is minus 196 degrees and it boils constantly, but it boils cold instead of boiling hot. The funniest thing we ever did was go to a science lab to learn how to handle liquid nitrogen, but safely, and know what it does. And then on stage we had a moment with liquid nitrogen where we put it in a bottle, closed the lid, contained it and tried to blow it up. So there’s usually a huge explosion with liquid nitrogen. Now the funny thing is that it doesn’t always work. Most of the time, 99% of the time, it works, but sometimes it just doesn’t work. And when it doesn’t work, I think the audience understands that this is a moment of live science, and it didn’t work. But there is a certain procedure where our stage management team takes it backstage and puts it in a safe environment. But the funniest thing is that it will probably explode at some point, but we don’t know when. But one time it exploded right in the middle of a scene and it caught us all completely off guard.
Photo credits: Mark Douet
What is the biggest challenge in directing a children’s science show?
I direct, write and participate in Brainiac. It’s quite intense to wear these three hats. As a director and writer, I want to know how the audience feels at every moment. I tell the crew, especially in times when I’m not on stage, that I want the audience to feel what they feel. What’s really rewarding is seeing the audience react in real time to an experience, it keeps the audience alive and the energy intact. I’m really lucky to be able to wear three hats creatively. But the hardest part as a director is making sure the message of a fun and chaotic journey is conveyed. I think all of us as a team live and breathe the show. We’ve really been doing this for many years and I think it’s very important for all of us.
What part of the show makes you feel like a child every time you see it?
Each explosion, there are several explosions in different ways. Every time something explodes, then everything explodes in different ways. We can afford to goof around on stage a little bit and it’s great.
How do you choose which brainiacs perform? Should they be great science communicators, great comedians or a bit of both?
With Brainiacit’s all about personality, you don’t need to be a science communicator, absolutely not. It’s good if you have some scientific knowledge, but like me, I don’t. So some experience in theater and live performance is desirable. But it depends on the personality. At auditions, I can pick someone from the first sentence they say in the script, I will know 100% if they have the personality to be a brainiac.
It’s all about personality and connecting with a family audience. There is a magic that you have to see immediately as you have to connect with many ages of children and their adults. There’s a certain nostalgia for this brand that people can feel, I remember that on TV. So it’s really important to connect with them as well as forty-year-old adults who remember the TV show. So it’s all about personality.
If you could add one dream element to the show with no budget limit, what would it be?
Iconic scenes from the TV show Brainiac were the ones where they blew up a trailer in the middle of a field every show. The TV show was all about caravan explosions. We have tried several times to find a way to do this on stage, but unfortunately the size of the object and the danger involved prevents this from happening. If I could add one moment to the show without limits or restrictions, forgetting budgets and we are in a theater, it would definitely blow up a caravan.
What makes the West End the perfect place for families to discover Brainiac Live cet été ?
We’re bringing our show to the Garrick Theatre, it’s an iconic venue. To bring Brainiac in the West End is expected to stand out from a traditional summer theater experience. It’s something different, something you may not have seen before. We are really happy to be able to play in front of incredible audiences from all walks of life. We love this venue because we spent four weeks at the Garrick in 2019. So it’s a return to this theatre, it’s a very, very good space for our show.
What do you hope families talk about when they go home after seeing the show?
I hope they leave smiling, laughing and feeling like they saw something truly different. I think entertainment or theater should be exciting and Brainiac Live absolutely does.
Is there anything you would like our little readers to know?
Brainiac is a live entertainment show. It absolutely ticks all the boxes for science too. You will leave with scientific knowledge. I hope you’ll be really surprised by some of the slightly dangerous, loud and funny things that happen on stage. In addition, public participation is strongly encouraged.
Brainiac Live 2026 will be playing at the Garrick Theater from July 26 to August 30 and touring the UK from June 20 to November 1.
