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Theatrical visionary Bertolt Brecht’s Galileo has an interesting history. Originally completed in 1939, the piece was updated in 1947 in collaboration with actor Charles Laughton, who then played the lead in a noted Los Angeles production. A well-known 1957 Berlin production was mounted shortly after the author’s death, and a screen adaptation starring Topol and directed by Joseph Losey was produced in 1975. Brecht focuses on the great astronomer/philosopher’s role in the invention of the telescope, the function of which substantiates Copernicus’ heliocentric model of the solar system, thus flying in the face of Catholic Church doctrine. Beset by related personal difficulties, Galileo, upon interrogation at the Vatican, recants his teachings. This production—which kicks off People’s Branch Theatre’s 10th anniversary season and signifies its first official collaboration with Belmont University—promises a multimedia approach to the play’s weighty issues of plagiarism, science-versus-religion, business and money and social responsibility. Ross Brooks directs a cast headed by Brian Russell and Shawn Knight and including Belmont thespians Zack McCann, Daniel Hackman and Adrienne Hite. (Russell completes the character-actor hat trick here, adding Galileo to his other local 2009 portrayals as Shakespeare and Mark Twain.)
Thursdays-Sundays. Starts: Sept. 18. Continues through Oct. 4, 2009
Thursdays-Sundays. Starts: Sept. 18. Continues through Oct. 4, 2009
