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Unusual Play

Students will have an opportunity to see in the first week of next term a great modern play, one which has aroused interest and controversy wherever it has been performed.

The life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht is being given its New Zealand premiere by Khandallah Arts Theatre under the sponsorship of the University English Department in the Memorial Theatre from May 25 to May 30.

Brecht wrote The Life of Galileo within the framework of bin conception of "epic theatre". He seeks to create a sense of noninvolvement by using a pure narrative style, which forces the audience to observe and judge according to its understanding, but not become involved in the emotion or dramatic action of the play. He constantly reminds the audience that it is in a theatre.

Though realistic in its smaller details, the Khandallah Arts Theatre setting is stylised and unobtrusive. Every scene is an independent and united entity, and does not depend on any linkage with the others. This is achieved in a variety of ways apart from the text. Khandallah Arts Theatre's production uses projection to reveal the plot of each scene before it begins. Above all, Brecht demands that drama should express social consciousness. He was a compassionate anti-fatalistic man, who in contrast to most modern authors, strongly believed in the ability of humanity to improve itself.

It is not surprising then that Brecht judges Galileo harshly. He portrays him as a sensuous and lazy man. Who in spite of his brilliance and scientific perception did not acknowledge social responsibilities and so recanted his teachings under pressure from the Inquisition, whether torture or moral suasion is disputed. Brecht was influenced by the Hiroshima atomic bomb which was dropped while he was at work on the version of the play which Khandallah Arts Theatre is to present. Though Brecht's own position is clear, the audience is enabled to take a quite independent attitude from the facts as they are presented.

A student concession is available from the Association Office at 4/-per seat.

Pope Urban VIII (Gil O'Sullivan) of whom, us he was known to be sympathetic to the "new philosophy" before his election to the papal throne, Galileo and other scientists held high hopes of a benevolent attitude to their researches. Galileo's hopes led him to rash publicization of his teachings, thus bringing about his trial and condemnation.