Brilliant! The Blinding Enlightenment of Nikola Tesla
C, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Group: Electric Company Theatre

Mark Tyson

Electric Company Theatre are committed to 'pushing the boundaries of theatre, scale, space and spectacle'. 'Though highly theatrical with much poetic licence. Brilliant! The Blinding Enlightenment of Nikola Tesla is based on a true story and all the characters are based on historical characters'.

Apologies for cribbing from the programme notes but frankly I couldn't put it better. This is a very entertaining and original production with an inspired choice of subject. Tesla was a Croatian-born scientist who moved to America in 1884, where he worked briefly with Thomas Edison. The two men fell out and Tesla went on to develop the Alternating Current System which we use today and which made possible the development of large electrical generating stations, apparently.

Despite his genius, Tesla died in poverty in a New York boarding house. The play attributes Tesla's downfall variously to his lack of guile and business acumen, his idealist sense of scientific purity, and there is also a suggestion of dark actors at work. Plenty of recognisable stereotypes then? Well, yes and no.

The characterisations are stylised and cleverly drawn. The visual effects are excellent, and overall this is a larger than life portrayal or a larger than life character.

30 July to 24 August.

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