THE LIFE OF GALILEO by Bertolt Brecht, translated by Birgit Schreyer Duarte and Jacob Zimmer, directed by Zimmer and Brendan Healy, with Tracy Wright. Presented by Small Wooden Shoe at Convocation Hall, U of T (31 Kings College). Sunday (May 30) at 7 pm. Pwyc benefit for the Actors’ Fund of Canada. smallwoodenshoe.org. See listing.
Most people would rather see a fully staged production than a play reading.[rssbreak]
Not Jacob Zimmer, who co-directs (with Brendan Healy) a reading of Bertolt Brecht’s 1947 epic, The Life Of Galileo. Presented by a starry cast with Tracy Wright in the title role, the event is a fundraiser for the Actors’ Fund of Canada. (Due to illness, Tracy Wright is unable to appear in the reading of The Life Of Galileo. Fiona Highet will perform the title role in her place.)
“I always feel that I hear the play better when it’s simply read,” says Zimmer, “because I’m really exposed to its language and the arguments. Also, actors can make bigger acting choices that don’t disturb the text.”
The play is a natural one for Zimmer to tackle. For the past several years, his company, Small Wooden Shoe, has been occupied with the science-and-theatre series Dedicated To The Revolutions.
In Brecht’s work, Galileo champions the Copernican (Earth revolves around the sun) theory rather than the established, Church-held Ptolemaic opposite. He wants to share his thoughts with everyone, learned or not. Put in a recant-or-be-tortured position, he opts for the former.
“As a piece of history, it’s horribly inaccurate,” smiles the director.
“The Life Of Galileo is an astounding play about how complicated it is for a person to respond to the world. What is Galileo’s responsibility as he stands against authority, and what is the relationship between freedom of thought and the teachings and power of the Church?
“I wouldn’t read it today as a defensive reaction to the religious right or intelligent design, an argument for the existence of God. The crux of the play is the power struggle the 17th-century Church was a political authority.
“It’s clear that the Church doesn’t care what Galileo really thinks, but it cares deeply that he not tell people that its teachings are wrong.”
And if Dedicated To The Revolutions is about how science can tell stories about our world, Galileo uses storytelling to present a critical moment in the history of science.
“Brecht wrote this version of the play after Hiroshima, when science had established a different set of authorities in the world. I see it in today’s biotech experiments and the altering of DNA. What’s the role of the individual scientist, the pharmaceutical company, the government in that?
“The play has just enough distance [from our time] so we’re not quite sure it’s talking about our world, but I think it is, and it’s vital to ask those questions.”
Yes, there’s that famous Brechtian distancing, too, which Zimmer accentuates by casting Wright, a woman, as Galileo.
“Tracy has the chops and the presence to support the work, and she’s surrounded by people from the worlds of mainstream and indie theatre, some of whom would never have the chance to be in a show this size.”
You’ll hear Caroline Gillis as Galileo’s friend Sagredo, Frank Cox-O’Connor as the scientist’s protege, Earl Pastko as the Grand Inquisitor and Daniel MacIvor as the Pope.
The National Theatre of the World’s Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus play a philosopher and mathematician in one of the play’s comic scenes.
Comedy in Brecht? You bet.
“Brecht had a sign above his desk that said, ‘Simpler, with more laughter,'” nods Zimmer. “It’s a really fast, sharp and witty script, with some broadly drawn characters and great set pieces. We’re trying to capture that sense of fun.”
jonkap@nowtoronto.com
