A Life of Galileo - Blog - Edward Haines

Actively exploring Galileo’s journeys to fight for what was in his lifetime his own truth proved a great experiment in resilience! The company of actors in this Lazarus R&D remained physically, intellectually, creatively active outside a four roped ringed stage, when we were not diving into the beating verbal fencing matches of Brecht’s text, forensically noting others lines related to important themes. And there were a lot! From science to commerce, love to torture. You could tell how many obstacles Galileo had to contend with as he travelled across the Holy Roman Empire assuring different stakeholders the Earth is on the move and not at the centre of the universe.

It struck me how revered he was in his early career for helping improve navigation techniques for sailors. And that later due to pressures of the Church and social-economic structures, his communicative public persona turned to one that had to become more private and reclusive in order to protect scientific observations for future generations.

It’s interesting the parallels with Brecht choosing to flee his native Germany to write more openly. I got to multirole with 6 different parts and along with observing the other multirole tracks, they made me realise the directness in Brecht’s language. Perhaps similar to Galileo’s rigour in star pattern changes through telescopes, Brecht could really examine, with great magnanimity, how influenced a whole load of job roles were by societal pressures. This clarity meant he had to express his teaching plays with strong alertness.