Life of Galileo

by Bertolt Brecht translated by John Willett

seen at the Young Vic on 7 June 2017

Joe Wright directs Brendan Cowell as Galileo with a supporting cast of ten in this didactic play concerning the struggle between the scientific mind and the entrenched dogmas of the post-Reformation Catholic church.

Galileo's personality is overwhelming in this play as he exults in his astronomical discoveries and relies on the strength of physical observation of phenomena to underpin the realignment of scientific knowledge. Around him the rich and powerful see only the commercial or entertainment advantages of inventions such as the telescope, rather than its usefulness in discovering shadows on the Moon or moons around Jupiter. His disciples are impressed, his family exasperated, his patrons largely boorish, and the church prelates who happen to be intellectual only dabble in his enthusiasms. Even the Barberini pope, taken to be an ally when he is a cardinal, succumbs to prudential arguments and allows Galileo to be intimidated into silence.

The Threepenny Opera

by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill

seen at the National Theatre (Olivier) on 24 June 2016

The production is a new adaptation by Simon Stephens directed by Rufus Norris and designed by Vicki Mortimer. It features Rory Kinnear as Macheath, Nick Holder as Peachum, Haydn Gwynne as Mrs Peachum, Rosalie Craig as Polly Peachum and Sharon Small as Jenny Driver.

Brecht's technique of alienating the audience from their conventional expectations of 'an evening at the theatre' is marvellously emphasised in this production, with the vast Olivier stage exposed in all its glory, flats and flights of stairs wheeled about by the cast, the flats often faced away from the front of the stage (showing all their struts) and just as frequently revealed to be utterly flimsy as various characters burst through them to enter a scene. Occasionally the revolve is cranked onto service by means of a giant lever wheeled to the front of the stage and laboriously 'worked' by an actor; on only one occasion is the drum used to bring a pre-constructed set up to stage level.