Galaxy Quest

What a spectacular opening in Blanka Zizka's production of Galileo!

by David Anthony Fox

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Published: May 2, 2007

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What a spectacular opening in Blanka Zizka's production of Galileo! Workers scurry across a set of metal girders and unfinished wood (a few arches cut into the boards cleverly suggest the period), while a persistent ticking sound makes us think of clockworks and the passage of time. It's the first of many pictures that dazzle us and reveal the complexities of this difficult play.

Zizka's famed visual sense is at its absolute best here. For this alone, Galileo is a must-see. When she can tell the story in images, all is well. The play's verbal difficulties are not quite so masterfully conquered.

Any production of Galileo, probably the most layered of Brecht's works, is a major event. At the center, of course, is the story of one of science's most revolutionary thinkers, the astronomer who literally changed the order of the heavens � and in so doing, brought down the ire of the church. But Galileo himself is no simple saint to Brecht; he's brilliant and crude, generous and conniving. Most important to Brecht, Galileo vacillated: sometimes sticking to his beliefs at great personal sacrifice, other times self-servingly recanting them.

In addition, Galileo, which Brecht first wrote in the late 1930s, is an allegory for the silencing voice of the Nazis. Later versions are interpreted as alluding to the disintegration of European politics, as well as the HUAC trials in the United States. Brecht's famous "alienation effect" � using anti-realistic theatrical devices that are meant to disengage an audience's emotional identification with character and story � are part of Galileo, but the piece (in that respect, at least) is softer than some of his famous earlier plays. Galileo must have grandeur, but the audience also must wait for each twist and turn with baited breath.

All of this presents formidable challenges, and many of those are dispatched superbly. The tricky carnival scene, something of a throwback to earlier Brechtian style, is magically done here. Zizka keeps the piece moving, and nearly three hours go by in a flash.

But in the critical title role, John Campion is too blustery and not sufficiently nuanced. He's most effective when he's quiet: "Yes, we will question everything," he says softly, and we pay attention. Even so, Campion could learn from ensemble member David Howie, who speaks volumes by merely lifting his eyebrow. Howie is one of this Galileo's strongest assets. Other members of the ensemble � all fine actors � don't really register, and a number of the dialogue-heavy scenes need a sly sense of satire that's missing here.

Particularly in the costuming, this Galileo plays into the currently favored European convention of deliberately muddling periods: Some of the cast look dressed for The Grapes of Wrath, while others seem to come out of Death in Venice. No doubt it's meant to help us understand the allegories, but � especially given David Edgar's overly colloquial new translation � it obfuscates rather than illuminates. A little Renaissance opulence would not be unwelcome.

(d_fox@citypaper.net)

The Life Of Galileo, Through May 13, Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St., 215-546-7824

 

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