GALILEO TONIGHT
A One Act, One Man Play
by Michael Chriss
SYNOPSIS
I. OPENING: AN OLD MAN TELLS OF A DANGEROUS TIME
As the stage lights darken and go out, a door opens and an old man dressed in Florentine garb slowly enters. He holds a flickering candle and carries some books and scrolls. He squints at the audience as he shuffles towards the centre of the stage, and stops at a large trestle table with props, books, solar system models, a bowl of fruit and a flagon of wine. The stage lights come up as Galileo puts down his books and scrolls and faces the audience, addressing them first in Italian then in English.
Picking up a scroll, he explains it is the summons of the Office of the Holy Inquisition calling him to Rome to stand trial on charges of heresy for writing a book in which he defends a claim that the sun, not the earth, is the centre of the universe. Additionally, there is an implication that Galileo has defied the Pope’s instructions and made him out to be a fool.
II. OVERVIEW: THE SETTING AND ACTION OF THE PLAY
Thus begins an evening during which Italian Renaissance astronomer, Galileo Galilei appears to us from a time long past to tell us about his life and work, and how they led, inexorably, to his infamous trial before the dreaded Inquisition in Rome in 1632. He leads us through the important events of his life and times, and describes the scientific beliefs of his day, and why he challenged them. He also makes clear why his challenge was seen by the church authorities to be a threat to the Church itself, and why they felt impelled to silence him.
As Galileo’s story unfolds, he explains his ideas to the audience, as if they were students at one of his many popular lectures in Florence. Through a series of vignettes, Galileo re-creates crucial conversations with Cardinal Bellarmine and the Pope, as well as the trial itself. Projections on a screen on the proscenium aid his explanations, and also act as an “off-stage, voice-over” announcer.
III. SCIENCE AND RELIGION BEFORE GALILEO
The narration begins with Galileo explaining how Greek ideas, from the solids of Pythagoras, to the atoms of Aristotle, the concept of perfection of Plato, and the geocentric universe of Ptolemy, lead scholars to believe the earth was the centre of the universe, and immovable, and how this became part of religious dogma after Thomas Aquinas blended holy scripture with this ancient wisdom.
At the end of this scene Galileo shows the audience his copy of Copernicus’s book, De Revelutionibus Orbium Coelestium, explaining how this new system of planetary motion not only works, but is superior to Ptolemy’s. Using a staff and a celestial globe, he describes the measurements of Tycho Brahe and the heavenly harmonies of Johannes Kepler.
IV. GALILEO’S EARLY LIFE EXPERIENCES CREATE A SCEPTIC WHO LATER REBELS
The middle of the play begins with Galileo reviewing his life and times. He tells of his father’s wishes for his young son, wishes not to be realized when Galileo became disenchanted with his schooling and the perceived truths of the day, “truths” originating in ancient philosophy and religion, and which seemed faulty and out-dated to the young Galileo. He relates all this while drinking a few glasses of “fine Tuscan wine”, and eating a grape here, an apple slice there, plucked from the bowl of fruit on the table. Dropping two pieces of fruit, Galileo comments that Aristotle could never have experimented or he would not have concluded that heavy objects fall faster than light ones.
Finally, Galileo relates how he made a telescope, taking the audience back to that magic night when he looked through that perspicelli tube and discovered the moons of Jupiter. His writing of Sidereus Nuncius was a high point in Galileo’s life. Then he guides the audience down the labyrinthine path leading to the charge of holding heretical beliefs contrary to those of the holy church. This part of the play closes with Galileo animatedly telling us about his triumphant debates with all those who would mock him when he showed his incontrovertible evidence proving the truth about the “new astronomy”.
V. THE FIGHT AGAINST AUTHORITY: A CONFLICT OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION
The final section of the play begins with the audience eavesdropping on the meeting between Galileo and Cardinal Bellarmine during which Galileo is admonished for teaching the new view of the universe, thus risking grave suspicion of heresy. Bursting to tell all of his “truth”, but silenced by church order, Galileo reveals the various stratagems he sought to continue his work and teachings, and talks about his proxy debate with Father Grassi about the nature of comets.
Next we witness Galileo’s audience with the new Pope, Urban VIII, and leaving with new hope and permission to write about the two world systems. Although strict restrictions are laid down about how to pose his arguments, Galileo’s spirits are rejuvenated at this new opportunity, and he begins work on Il Dialogo. The book is a triumph of wit and scientific logic, but it leads directly to a summons by an angry Pope to appear in Rome before the Office of the Holy Inquisition to stand trial on a charge of being “vehemently suspected of heresy”. This leads to Galileo seated in the glare of a single spotlight, speaking slowly and deliberately as he answers the questions of the Grand Inquisitors.
VI. CLOSING: A LIGHT GOES OUT
As the trial ends the stage lights up. Galileo painstakingly removes a scroll from the table, and slowly unrolls it. Explaining this is The Abjuration he was forced to sign at the end of his trial, he begins to read the document in a broken and shaky voice. As he reads, his voice grows faint and is taken up by a voice-over which intones the sentence of the Inquisition. Moving his lips in unison with the voice-over, Galileo picks up the candle he carried at the start of the play, slowly turns, and walks toward the door where he first entered. As he moves toward his exit, the stage lights dim. Just as Galileo reaches the door, they go out. Galileo looks back briefly, blows the candle out, and exits.