"Science Is Drama": David Epley on Doktor Kaboom and the Wheel of Science!

After more than 2,000 performances and over two million audience members worldwide, Doktor Kaboom is returning to the Edinburgh Fringe with his ever-unpredictable Wheel of Science! We caught up with creator and performer David Epley to find out more.

You studied chemistry, physics and chemical engineering before finding performance – at what point did those two passions collide, and was there a specific moment where you thought "this is actually one thing, not two"?

At University, I took some acting classes for the fun of it and the bright joy I discovered there completely overshadowed everything else. More and more, I found myself choosing theatre classes over every other subject. Eventually it was everything in my world, and I left the sciences behind. Years later, I was looking to shake up my career a bit and decided to bring science back into my life. The turning point was realising that science is drama. It’s about anticipation, tension and the climax of a discovery. When I stopped trying to be a "scientist explaining to an audience" and started being a "performer exploring science with an audience," the two halves became whole. They aren't separate things; they are two languages describing the same reality.

The Wheel of Science means no two shows are the same – after 2,000 performances and 17 years, how do you stay in the moment rather than running on autopilot, and does the unpredictability still excite you the way it presumably did at the start?

Autopilot is the death of comedy. The Wheel is my defence against it. The Wheel dictates the order of events, so I’m never just reciting lines—I’m managing a live system. The unpredictability still excites me; it keeps me sharp. Every single show is a conversation, not a lecture. When I see an audience member’s eyes widen at the exact moment a reaction hits, I’m right there with them. I'm not performing for them; I'm experiencing the experiment with them!

You mention brand new surprises on the wheel this year that you've never done before – without giving too much away, how do you go about testing and developing a new experiment for a live family show where things genuinely have to work, or spectacularly not work, in front of an audience?

LOL, I love the end of that question! My background as a firefighter/EMT is one of my biggest assets here. I have a healthy respect for the physics of "things going wrong." I spend time in the shop (my backyard) testing everything. My process has improved: if an experiment is finicky, it gets cut. If it’s robust enough for a tour, it gets a "comedy-stress test." Part of science (and comedy) is failure. I don’t care much about "failure state"—if the experiment fails, is it still funny? Is it still safe? If I answer "yes," it goes on the Wheel. My favourite new one this year is one I’m calling “Flour Power”. It is an impressive visual explosion without a loud sound. Also, it smells like cheesecake!

You invite children on stage to take part in the experiments – what do you look for when you're picking volunteers, and what has a child done on stage that completely caught you off guard and became a highlight you still think about?

I look for the spark—that glint in the eye of a kid who is just dying to see what happens next. I don't need the "perfect" volunteer; I need an honest one. I’ve had kids completely derail me by asking questions that were actually more insightful than the lesson I was teaching. But my favourite moment is perhaps one that happened at the Fringe. I had a young girl volunteer. She ran on stage very excited, but then was too nervous in front of the audience and wanted to sit back down. I always want to be sure no kid feels like they failed me, so I pointed out how courageous it was to speak up when one is uncomfortable. I then did the routine (my hovercraft) with a different volunteer. After the second child had left the stage, I turned back to the first one and offered her a second go. She ran up and hugged me, then did the whole piece. Avatar is the show her dad wrote to thank me. She’d seen my show 4 times and always wanted to be on stage; when she’d asked to sit back down, she was so upset with herself. Giving her that second chance made her summer. I got to do that! I got to make that child’s summer. How lucky am I?

You've performed to over two million people worldwide – does the show feel different in different countries, and is there something specific about Edinburgh or British family audiences that keeps bringing you back for a fifth year?

The laughter is universal, but the rhythm changes. And UK audiences are uniquely savvy—they have this wonderful, dry, inherited sense of humour, even the seven-year-olds! Plus, there’s a specific "Fringe energy" in Edinburgh. People come here to be surprised and challenged. Performing at the Pleasance, such a well-known venue, creates a shorthand with the audience that is incredibly rewarding. I keep coming back because the Scottish audience is smart enough to know when you're faking it, and lovely enough to celebrate when you're not.

The tagline "science is for everyone, even the parents" is a lovely line – how do you pitch the show so that it genuinely lands for a seven-year-old and their accompanying adult simultaneously, and which age group do you find harder to win over?

I treat the kid like an adult and the adult like a kid. Children love being spoken to with intellectual respect, and adults are secretly desperate for permission to play. If I can get the parents to laugh, the kids feel safe to be silly. As for the harder group? It’s rarely one group or the other. The "too cool" teenager can sometimes be a fun challenge. However, once I set off a properly impressive reaction, or a solid off-the-cuff laugh moment, even the most stoic teen usually cracks a smile. Science has a way of dissolving "too cool" energy pretty quickly!

Doktor Kaboom and the Wheel of Science! Is at Pleasance Courtyard, Beyond, 5 – 16 Aug 2026, 13.30. Ticket information here: Doktor Kaboom and the Wheel of Science! | Edinburgh Festival Fringe