| The young artists of the Electric Company display a
dizzying theatrical vocabulary.
— Georgia Straight
Chronicling the explosive career of a twentieth-century genius, Brilliant! is a story about the beginning of our technological age embodied in a man whose ideas, dreams and passions were too big for his own time. Visually stunning, the play has many comic, surreal and dramatic moments in the ultimately tragic unfolding of a life, told in the inimitable style that has made the Electric Company “a Canadian treasure.”
In February 1882, Tesla discovered the rotating magnetic field, a fundamental principle in physics and the basis of nearly all devices that use alternating current. His greatest achievement is the polyphase alternating current system, which today lights the entire globe.
Tesla was a pioneer in many fields. His alternating current induction motor is considered one of the ten greatest discoveries of all time. Among his other discoveries are the fluorescent light, the laser beam, wireless communications, wireless transmission of electrical energy, remote control, robotics, and vertical take-off aircraft. He is the father of radio and television, and registered over seven hundred patents worldwide. His vision included exploration of solar energy and the power of the sea. He foresaw interplanetary communications and satellites.
Brilliant! explores the enigma of a man who had a vision of bettering the world for humanity, yet whose relationships with others were strained; whose inventions literally outshone his those of his mentor (and later, his rival) Thomas Edison, yet whose name lingers far below Edison’s in history books; whose unconventional approach to problems made millions of dollars for others, yet who died penniless. Who was Brilliant!
With considerable charm and an abundance of invention, the Electric Company’s perfectly counterpointed quartet of actors bounce ideas off each other in dizzyingly abstract fashion.
—The Herald (Edinbugh)
Performance History:
Vancouver Fringe Festival, 1996; Roundhouse Performance Space, 1998
High Performance Rodeo, Calgary, 1999
Firehall Arts Centre, Vancouver, 2003
C Venues, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2003
Western Canada Theatre, Kamloops, 2003
Magnetic North Theatre Festival, Edmonton, 2004
This book is printed on ancient
forest-friendly paper.
About the Author
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