It seems obvious to us at the start of the 21st
century that the Earth goes round the Sun and not vice versa. But only 400
years ago a man was put on trial in
Rome for suggesting that the Sun was the centre of the universe, and not the
Earth.
That man was Galileo, a Florentine mathematician and
astronomer who proved (to his own satisfaction) that Copernicus was right when
he asserted that the Sun was the centre of our universe. Others had claimed the
same, though without “proof”. Oddly, to our view, proof was the last thing the
church wanted. “Proof” was a human construct, whereas the church knew the
opposite was true – the scriptures said so.
In a riveting FET production at the Colombier theatre last night, RSC actor Tim Hardy
illuminated the trial of Galileo before an Inquisition court. Never really
saying what the trial was for: not heresy; not spreading Copernican views;
simply contradicting the edict (written post facto) that such views were
heretical.
For an hour the actor displayed a range of emotions and
reactions as Galileo tried to convince us and the court (even Pope Urban
himself) that he had done nothing wrong, but had added to human knowledge of
the world in which we live. One complaint the church had was that Galileo’s
book was written in Italian, the language of the common people (the trial was of course in Latin) and the writer
reflected that by putting Hardy’s lines in 21st century language,
easier to spread the influence of the heretic, easier for us to grasp the
argument in this essentially philosophical play.
This was a thought-provoking performance rightly praised
throughout the theatrical universe – isn’t it a pity that such fundamentalist
attitudes still persist in Christianity and Islam. The scriptures were a great
basis for our values, but surely not to be swallowed wholesale because priests
and imams say so.
A promising start to FET’s 2017/18 season.
