Same Difference Arts were delighted to be ACE funded to develop
​Sense-O-Matic in 2021.

Sense-O-Matic is a science-meets-Victoriana show based around a steampunk-inspired contraption! A show consisting of two plucky young aspiring scientists, Anne and Lottie and their walkabout, much-talked-about, splendorous, spectacular, scientific discovery machine! 

​Anne is an apothecary and Lottie is learning to be a "lady doctor". They travel the world, documenting different people's various perceptions of the world through their senses. They hope to gather data and submit it to win a Nobel Prize in ‘Senseology’. The fantastic world they create mixes real science and historical tales of the development of scientific study! Anne and Lottie invite the curious to take part in electrifying experiments, one for each sense (touch, smell, taste, sound and sight).

When it's all a matter of taste, audience members must guess the correctly: is it sour? Bitter? Umami? Salty or sweet? If something smells, the audience must identify the scent from the list of ten categories of aroma. If you want to get touchy, the crowd help their fellows to guess what objects are in a bag of mysteries... And before we lose sight of our ocular sense, we have a variety of looking devices and questions for the audience to document their surroundings! Sound good? Well, we also have some fabulous Victorian contraptions to amaze and inspire your ears!

​This Victorian-crossed with steampunk-inspired show looks at technology and science being used to understand the world around us. The eccentric characters embrace the steampunk ideology, focusing on a time before digital media, where phenomenological and experiential learning were key to understanding the world.