Review: Galileo

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POSTED: 03 SEPTEMBER 2009

The Life of Galileo, by Bertolt Brecht, translated by David Hare

(Epicentre Theatre Company | Zenith Theatre, Chatswood, Sydney | Until 12 Septembert)

For a non-professional troupe, Sydney Epicentre Theatre Company could never be accused of lacking ambition.

Earlier this year, they presented evocatively chilling versions of The Laramie Project and To Kill a Mocking Bird.

Their current production, English playwright David Hare’s translation and reworking of the Bertolt Brecht masterpiece The Life of Galileo, is arguably even more challenging, if only because of the play’s classic status.

In fact, the core of Galileo is quite a straightforward story.

Exactly 400 years ago (that’s one of the reasons this is the International Year of Astronomy), one of the greatest scientists of all time, the Italian Galileo Galilei, presented incontrovertible proof that the Earth rotated around the Sun, rather than vice-versa.

The dominant Catholic Church, having been removed from its “rightful” position at the centre of the universe, is mightily pissed off and starts some serious bullying of Galileo.

Galileo faces some crucial questions of morality. Does he stand by his scientific findings or does he bow to the church’s pressures? After all, “heretics” have been beheaded for this kind of challenge to authority.

And it’s these questions of morality, of right and wrong, of empiric proof against religious dogma, that really interested the controversial Brecht, who wrote the first version of the play in the late 1930s, when the rapid rise of fascism was presenting its own moral mire in his German homeland.

In the hands of writers such as Brecht and Hare, the simple quickly becomes complex, throwing out deep challenges to any theatre company.

Certainly, Epicentre’s use of rapid-fire entrances and exits by subsidiary characters can be distracting and doesn’t work as well in Galileo as it did in Laramie and Mockingbird.

More important, though, is the fundamental of diction. Too many of the actors simply deliver their lines too quickly, and as I mentioned in reviewing Mockingbird, there is also a tendency to convey anger and emotion by yelling rather than speaking loudly.

That said, Epicentre’s production of Galileo is a worthy one and it’s certainly worth seeing.

Apart from the problems just mentioned, the acting is praiseworthy. Donald Sword is convincing in the lead role, and I particularly liked the strength of Alisa Hawkins as the Cardinal Inquisitor. She’d put the fear of God into anyone standing in the dock. And look out for future theatrical excursions from some fine young Riverview lads.

The set is excellent and Director John Harrison’s use of song is masterful. In his original version David Hare used a giant puppet show at a carnival to create mood and balance tension.

Not having access to those resources, Harrison cleverly opted to place his cast in cabaret-style city bars and revealed some notable musical talents during renditions of standards such as Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend, Mac the Knife and One for My Baby.

Epicentre’s next production will be an all new adaptation of Cervantes’ immortal Don Quixote, presented under the stars at Castlecrag Haven Amphitheatre, Sydney, from 27 November to 6 December. Visit www.epicentre.org.au for further details.

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