Daniel Bye’s Going Viral is a really unique show that manages to tell a story whilst weaving comedy, social commentary, world events and a lecture on the science of epidemiology all into the mix.

Bye’s play follows the story of two people who become involved in an outbreak of a disease that causes its sufferers to cry. Surreal, scary and frighteningly credible, the plot is interspersed with comments on/explanations of the science involved in the spread of disease. The script for this piece is incredibly well structured, with moments of tension and pathos balanced by moments of comedy and action. I also loved the use of parallel story lines or events that let us think about the same situation from different points of view and from different depths of understanding.

I was impressed by how much you could learn from this show too. The simple, lively way that Daniel presents scientific ideas makes them very accessible, easy to understand and to follow. His chaotic use of props is really engaging and I will always imagine viruses in terms of liquorice allsorts after seeing this show! The audience involvement (not scary, I promise!) also plays a part in helping us learn from his show, and he uses expert language - only when necessary - in an undaunting way and always with an explanation to accompany it.

Similarly, the staging and design for the show was simple but worked really well. The audience sat in lines on all four sides of the stage, which created an informal feel and by sitting in the audience from the start, Daniel’s informal chatty tone was quickly accepted by us. The BT’s size made for an intimate performance with the unique feel of interaction and inclusion that you can only get with a small, close audience. There was very little set design for the show – just a circle of carpeted floor in the centre of the room which could be used as a more formal stage occasionally, and more often was used for depositing armfuls of pills and bandages on or to describe how a virus uses a host cell. The lighting was well designed and subtle. Tubes hung from the ceiling were an interesting way of lighting the stage and were cleverly used to represent disease spreading through the passengers of an aeroplane, as a kind of secondary cast.

Daniel Bye is the perfect performer for this kind of one-man show. His delivery sometimes holds the room silently fascinated, completely engaged in the stories of the two central characters in this piece; at other times, he is delightfully chatty and informal, so that anyone in the audience feels at ease to interact with him and you can’t always tell whether he’s very comfortable ad-libbing or has amazingly natural delivery. This ambiguity is a fascinating part of his show and style, leaving you guessing for a surprisingly long time as to whether he is storytelling or not, how much is genuine and how much is a persona he has created. He doesn’t always give the answers, but it is certain that Daniel Bye cares a lot about his subject matter and has researched it thoroughly and given it a lot of thought.

The show leaves you with a lot to think about – questions about selfishness and social responsibility, empathy and grief as well as about the way that crises are dealt with by individuals, the media, the government and experts in the field. Who is best placed to make a difference and who has the power to do so?