Building ‘The Fake News Navigator’
We love building things that spin, drop, coin-drop, and challenge your coordination. But the core technology that drives our interactive arcade amusements and mechanical contraptions actually has a massive range of uses. Recently, we got to prove exactly that by stepping out of the arcade and onto the theatre stage.
We’ve just wrapped up an incredible project collaborating with the brilliant team at Cousin Jack’s Theatre Company (who you should absolutely check out if you haven’t already).
They approached us with a unique challenge: they needed a central, interactive prop for a brand-new touring play commissioned by Ofcom. The show is designed around the primary schools curriculum to help kids navigate the tricky world of misinformation and fake news.
The heart of the show? A machine belonging to a character named Bobo. Our job was to take a beautiful, imaginative drawing and turn it into a living, breathing, working piece of stage tech for The Fake News Navigator.
Inside the Build: Microcontrollers, Power, and “Manic” Text
If you’ve peeked into our workshop before, the guts of the Fake News Navigator might look a bit familiar. Under the hood, we used an Arduino microcontroller setup—very similar to the brains we use to handle inputs and logic in our physics-based arcade games.
For this prop, the big showstopper was a high-voltage, 24V thermal receipt printer built right into the machine. We wrote custom code to allow the actor to trigger the printer on cue, spitting out continuous, “manic” streams of text that perfectly captured the overwhelming chaos of the digital news cycle.
Because this show was destined to tour schools all over Cornwall, mains power wasn’t something we could take for granted. We adapted our usual battery-power setups—the exact same systems we use to make our arcade games portable for community events—to run the entire prop. It meant the stage crew could literally wheel the Navigator into any school hall, flip a switch, and be completely self-sufficient. It was a fantastic real-world test of our portable power tech, and it worked flawlessly.
What Our Collaborators Said
The show has been touring Cornish schools, and the response from both the kids and the creative team has been fantastic. We were incredibly touched to receive these testimonials from the team behind the show:
“Working with Fluxus on The Fake News Navigator was a genuine pleasure from start to finish. From our earliest conversations, they showed an incredible understanding of the technical aspects needed to realise our vision for the central prop, and brought a creative, artistic sensibility that made sure the machine truly belonged in the world of our show… They struck that rare balance of being fun and creative to collaborate with while remaining completely reliable.”
Guy Watson, Creative Producer, Cousin Jack’s Theatre Company
“Working with Paddy and Ed was a great experience. As the artist and creative lead in the team they brought my drawing of Bobo’s machine fully to life. They listened so closely to everything we needed on the machine and helped us facilitate a play commissioned by Ofcom, for the school curriculum around mis and disinformation and fake news… Ed and Paddy and their problem solving, idea generating brains were key in realising our needs and development of the project and created the perfect centre piece for the children’s attention.”
Caroline Pedler, Artist
Looking Forward (and Crossing Our Fingers!)
Projects like this prove that whether it’s an educational theatre prop or a mechanical amusement machine, the intersection of physical engineering and creative storytelling is where the magic happens. By combining our skills, we can build pretty much anything you can dream up.
That said, bringing Bobo’s machine to life did require a fair bit of logistical gymnastics. We are currently crossing our fingers tightly that our plans for a permanent, dedicated workshop space line up soon. Having a fixed home for Fluxus Cornwall would make prototyping, heavy building, and collaboration so much easier, and let us take on even bigger, weirder, and more wonderful commissions.
A massive thank you to Guy, Jonathan, Caroline, and everyone at Cousin Jack’s for trusting us with their vision.
Got a wild idea for a mechanical prop, interactive exhibition display, or custom contraption? Get in touch. We love a challenge!
