Scan barcode
A review by leventmolla
The Life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht
3.0
I have read the Royal Shakespeare Company edition of Brecht's A Life of Galileo and I must say I am confused. This is arguably his best play, but this edition shows none of his signature Epic Theatre techniques. It is of course known that Brecht rewrote his play after Hiroshima, changing the positive vision of science portrayed in the earlier version due to the negative role of science perceived after the atomic bomb, but I believe this version translated by Mark Ravenhill of the RSC is closer to the earlier version.
The play portrays Galileo as he - seemingly - submits to the authority of the church and recants his earlier claims that the Earth is not the centre of the universe and it rotates around the Sun, contrary to what the Bible proposes. Later in his life he covertly writes his theses and smuggles it out of Italy so that they are published and disseminated.
I did not get too much out of the play and the defiance of Galileo does not come out very clearly. I am not sure whether Brecht's original text was also this plain and whether he might have added all the epic elements in the production of the play. I also do not know how close Mark Ravenhill stayed to Brecht's text, since he mentions that he has done it from a literal translation of the play (from German). Interesting, but does not project greatness.
The play portrays Galileo as he - seemingly - submits to the authority of the church and recants his earlier claims that the Earth is not the centre of the universe and it rotates around the Sun, contrary to what the Bible proposes. Later in his life he covertly writes his theses and smuggles it out of Italy so that they are published and disseminated.
I did not get too much out of the play and the defiance of Galileo does not come out very clearly. I am not sure whether Brecht's original text was also this plain and whether he might have added all the epic elements in the production of the play. I also do not know how close Mark Ravenhill stayed to Brecht's text, since he mentions that he has done it from a literal translation of the play (from German). Interesting, but does not project greatness.