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.
