Experts Radio Lab

Ronan McMahon interviews Niahm on her expertise as part of Experts Radio Lab

A live radio show where children are the experts!

NOW BOOKING A 2025 TOUR.

Please get in touch by email alicemcooper@gmail.com if you are interested in having the Lab at your venue, Family Day or festival.

 About the Show

Set within a fun, colourful, 80’s-style radio studio, Experts Radio Lab is a drop-in performance where young people are interviewed as the expert on a topic of their choice.The interactive performance is hosted by ‘born storyteller’, theatre-maker Alice Mary Cooper and her highly experienced team of performers. The interviews are shared live over a PA to an audience of fellow interviewees, their families, and curious onlookers in a specially designed listening zone. 

Accompanying the main Expert Radio Lab studio and audience zone, is a Listening Station, located elsewhere in the building where audiences can use earphones to listen in to the live broadcast and recorded sessions from previous performances.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/755327126

Short podcast of the young experts (by Gavin McCabe): https://soundcloud.com/alicemcooper/experts-radio-lab-short-compilation

Background

Experts Radio Lab evolved out of Alice’s near decades’ experience creating work for young audiences. In 2020 she was commissioned by Imaginate to create ‘Outside my Window I see’ a film and audio work weaving together the interviews she made over the phone with young people in the UK and India during lockdown. It gave her a strong desire to help find other avenues for young people to share their stories and voices.

Originally commissioned by Edinburgh International Children’s Festival 2022, and produced by Imaginate, for their Family Encounters at the National Museum of Scotland (Edinburgh) and for Platform (Glasgow) Bridge Festival. Experts Radio Lab was asked back to Edinburgh International Children’s Festival in 2023, and was part of the Made in Scotland Showcase at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2023. 

Previous Outings

May 2022 Family Encounters, National Museum of Scotland (Edinburgh)

June 2022 Platform Family Day (Glasgow)

June 2023 Family Encounters, National Museum of Scotland (Edinburgh)

August 2023 Made in Scotland Showcase, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, National Museum of Scotland (Edinburgh)

May 2024 Junior Festival, Harbourfront Arts centre, Toronto, Canada

July 2024 Festival of the Sea, Aberdeen Art Gallery & Maritime Museum

Alice Cooper listens to a group of children talk about their expertise at Family Encounters at the NMS. Photo credit: Ruth Armstrong
Alice Cooper listens to a group of children talk about their expertise at Family Encounters at the NMS. Photo credit: Ruth Armstrong
Film of Experts Radio Lab at Family Encounters at the National Museum of Scotland.
Credit: Cedric Audinot for Imaginate
Geraldine Heaney listens to young expert at The Bridge Family Festival, Easterhouse, Glasgow. Picture Copyright: Iain McLean www.iainmclean.com

Touring

The work is available for touring to pop up at venues, festivals, family days and…other places you may propose!

For a Touring pack, pricing and availability please get in touch.

Ronan McMahon speaks to a young expert into a microphone about their expertise in the white, yellow and blue radio booth
Ronan McMahon speaks to a young expert at Experts Radio Lab at Family Encounters