| . | 05/07/2009
Galileo
By: Deirdre Donovan
The Milk Can Theatre Company has staged Galileo with unmistakable dedication to Bertolt Brecht’s rarely-produced masterpiece
Hat’s off to the Milk Can Theatre Company for mounting Bertolt Brecht’s Galileo. Written 70 years ago, it’s a brilliant and beautiful drama—but rarely staged. Luckily, theatergoers now have a chance to see this lesser-known but important work of Brecht at Urban Stages.
The play chronicles the life and tragic fall from grace of the 17th century Italian philosopher and mathematician Galileo Galilei. Brecht, who wrote several versions of Galileo (he was still revising the work until shortly before his death), especially wanted to dramatize the struggle of the pure scientist against the authority of the church, which insisted on teaching the Aristotelian cosmology. As a champion of Reason, Galileo is a riveting character to watch. He attempts to persuade the old cardinals in Rome as well as the royals at the Medicean Palace in Florence to take his new age theories seriously.
Julie Fei-Fan Balzer shepherds a cast of eight—Matt Biagini, Natalie Caruncho, James Caulfield, Ryan Clardy, Robert A. Felbinger, Alex Herrald, Jed Peterson, and Maria Silverman, portraying over 50 roles. All are versatile actors, who are adept at morphing into various characters in closely-knit scenes. Imagine the challenge of each cast member playing 4 or 5 roles, embodying characters that run the gamut of the social strata in 17th century Italy. The bold acting of the cast is to be applauded along with Balzer’s taut direction. Everything is kept in orbit in this play, even if an actor or 2 occasionally goes up on a line.
It’s difficult to make good theater out of philosophical-social material. Yet Brecht does it effortlessly in this classic. The author has fashioned colorful, witty dialogue for his protagonist Galileo, concise visual metaphors for Italy, and profound arguments that literally revolve around the planets, stars, and sun. Galileo is first praised for his genius—and then accused of being a “Bible-Killer.” History tells us that he recanted his brilliant cosmological theories--and this play tells you why.
This is an intellectual play of the best sort. The drama doesn’t omit emotion, humor, or the dark underside of the church. We become intimately familiar with Galileo’s quirky ways, boastful tendencies as well as the grandeur of his scientific inventions and grand theories.
Galileo is an anti-hero, but he’s partially rehabilitated in the final scenes, which makes him more likable.
Besides James Caulfield as Galileo, there were good performances by Natalie Caruncho as Galileo’s daughter Virginia and Jed Peterson as Galileo’s future son-in-law Ludovico. Caulfield possesses the forcefulness as well as the intelligence demanded by the part and circumstances. While the other actors remold themselves into several new personalities during the evening, Caulfield successfully delineates himself as the solid rock in the drama.
There is such a rich abundance of characters—all of them providing folksy comment on the new age of science and the church. One of the most moving scenes in the production was Galileo’s conversation with The Little Monk (Matt Biagini), who feared the despair that Galileo’s ideas would cause to his peasant parents and others like them. Without being didactic, the scene reveals the far-reaching impact that Galileo’s idea would have on the world. And, fortunately, Caulfield and Biagini enacted the episode as an earnest heart-to-heart talk between Galileo and a humble man.
Brecht’s theater is not about the glamour of illusion, but brings us into the here-and-now of the theater space. We hear loud slogans (in Galileo’s defense) voiced by the actors. We see unadorned lighting equipment (lighting by Wilburn Bonell), and other stage devices (set design by Ann Bartek) in evidence. Puppets (puppet design by Peter Lewis) make a colorful entrance to underscore the puppet-like men in Italy. And the cast stridently addresses the audience, reminding everybody that Galileo’s new age theories are not to be taken lightly.
The Milk Can Theatre Company has staged Galileo with unmistakable dedication. Without any special effects, they have managed to give us a good production of a rarely-produced masterpiece. Don’t be complacent—go to this show!
Bertolt Brecht’s Galileo at Urban Stages located at 259 West 30th Street.
Tickets are $18, visit http://www.smarttix.com .
Through May 16, Thursday and Friday at 8pm; Saturday at 2pm; Sunday at 6pm.
For more information about The Milk Can Theatre Company, visit http://www.milkcantheatre.org
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