Review: I IS A STRANGE LOOP, Barbican Pit

A man lies flat on his front inside a cube, a point in space. He is X. A woman walks into the space. She is Y.

Y starts to talk to X about the world she knows, one of books and oranges, of representation and imagination, of humanity.

X begins by describing everything mathematically - the orange becomes its cartesian equation, an infinite universe is posited via inductive reasoning, time goes on indefinitely.

But X hankers for the world of "out" as Y gently suggests the folly of seeing the world only mathematically, pointing out its contradictions and limitations. X creates i, the square root of -1 as something of a rebuttal, but that's an imaginary number and not imagination - only a partial escape.

The answer is in X taking on (literally) Y's mantle, a strange loop of script twisted into a Möbius strip that will always return him to his comforting world of logical certainty no matter how far he strides out from his cube.

Okay, that sounds a little intimidating (and there are times when it is), but Marcus du Sautoy (X) is Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford and Victoria Gould (Y) is a member of progressive physical theatre company, Complicité - and holds an MSc in mathematics. So they know how to get their story across and how the hard stuff works.

What emerges is something along the lines of a high art version of a Royal Institution Christmas lecture or an avant garde post by Numberphile. The maths geeks can enjoy the number theory, the philosophers the epistemology and the theatre buffs a dose of ego stroking meta-stuff with Shakespeare given the role of ultimate guide. Whether it's quite meaty enough for true experts in those fields or quite accessible enough for casual punters - well, I'm not sure. People might feel a sine curve of appreciation and understanding as the show progresses (see - we're all doing it now).

It just about hangs together and, at 80 minutes all-through, narrowly avoids outstaying its welcome.

It's less a four star show for its entertainment as much as its ambition and confidence. The worlds of academic science and philosophy - despite the best efforts of many - remain too separate, not least because (remarkably) it's still perfectly fine, accepted even, for broadcasters and journalists to brag about their mathematical illiteracy in a way that they would never do if anyone were to say ""To be or not to be" - what's that all abaht then?"

This show does not talk down to its audience, does not give easy answers and does not expect to leave people particularly happy or satisfied (though it's quite fun at times). It is, however and quite literally, about what makes the world go round - and why it's worth trying to keep that going a little longer.

I Is A Strange Loop is at the Barbican Pit until 23 March and is part of the Life Rewired season.

Photo Benjamin Ealovega

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