The Inventor of All Things. The true story of Leo Szilard. A Gem of a performance!

Physicist Leo Szilard. (1898-1864)

Jem Rolls becomes a professor of history who spews out in a most exciting way, the trials, and tribulations, the evolution and astounding feats of a certain Leo Szilard, for whom the actor/writer has a deeply passionate interest.  This is a true story. It can all be verified on line and elsewhere. Szilard was a  Hungarian-American physicist responsible for the development of nuclear fission as well as the idea of the American Manhatten project, a close friend of Einstein and  who in the end was against the Atomic bomb and nuclear weapons because he realized the horrors they could produce. But Jem Rolls turns the life story of this incredible human being, who escaped the Nazis, into the masterful adventure of a superhero: Inventor of a long line of products, fighter for the survival of the world, against human stupidity and the initiator of the peace movement. Jem Rolls performs the story on stage as though it were a musical score, respecting the rhythms, the pauses, the crescendos, the staccatos, the adagios, and all the musical possibility of human speech. The range of his delivery is enormous and it is this playful delivery as well as his almost surrealist way his written text  connects accomplishments that don’t always connect logically that stimulate our attention and keep us glued to this history lesson for a whole hour.

Jem Rolls is a gem of a performer. Definitely worth seeing.

The Inventor or All Things plays in the Arts Court Library.

The Inventor of All Things, the true story of Leo Szilard. Written and performed by Jem Rolls.