Two cultures – The musical

Author: Toss Gascoigne – Australian National University, Australia

Co-authors:
Craig Cormick
Phil Dooley
Jenni Metcalfe – Australian National University

The proposal is for a dramatic presentation centred on CP Snow’s Two Cultures.

On May 7 1959, Snow delivered the Rede Lecture at Cambridge University. Snow said that society was divided in two parts, those educated in the arts and humanities, and those from science and technology. The two sides could not communicate and this had serious implications for society.

The proposal for Dunedin is a theatrical examination of this controversy. Is there a wall between the two cultures? Can people talk productively across this barrier, or is it the source of confusion, uncertainty and poor policy? Is science communication an attempt to patch over these difficulties, and can it succeed?

The play delighted the audience when it premiered at the PCST Conference in Istanbul. Now it has been revised and extended, with new character development and songs added, so it becomes Two Cultures: the Musical!

Presentation type: Perfomance
Theme: Society
Area of interest: Building a theoretical basis for science communication