(Royal Court, 1983) is Howard Brenton's play about science, politics and the relations between the two. The American Leo, amoral in his personal life, but a brilliant physicist, has made a mathematical discovery involving the unified field theory, which could lead to an even more powerful nuclear bomb. He has fled to a British university, which he calls “The edge of the Holy American Empire”. A young female mathematics prodigy, Gilly, has made a similar discovery at the university. To Gilly, her discovery is about the pure beauty of the mathematics involved. Despite Gilly and Leo's attempt at a piece of street theatre to make the point that their knowledge must be protected from those with power, the British academics turn out to be more than willing to help the Americans…
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Citation: Barfield, Steve, Julie Waddington. "The Genius". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 February 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16702, accessed 24 November 2024.]
