The Life of Galileo

Bertolt Brecht’s The Life of Galileo was presented by WAAPA Second Year Acting Students and was designed and crewed by WAAPA Production and Design Students. Performing off the Edith Cowan campus at the University of Western Australia’s Dolphin Theatre, this was a strong ensemble production that told a fascinating story.

Josh McNeil’s set and costume design was central to the style and look of the production. Costumes, though well suited to character were an eclectic blend of era appropriate and modern - and the set consisted largely of a huge circular structure suspended over the actors’ heads - the structure changed its angle and positioning, even lowering to the floor to become seating. Kirby Jones’ lighting design was very supportive, while emotive sound was provided by Amaru Zachariassen.

In a Brechtian piece with actors playing multiple roles, it almost feels wrong to single out performances. This was very much a group effort with all performances effective and cohesive and 67 roles well portrayed. 

The three actors playing Galileo were all excellent - with transitions between actors clear. Uicse Boris-Dazely, Antony Press and Mia Fitzgerald all brought different things to the role, but all were captivating and worthy central performers. Other memorable performances included Sukyeong Shin as Virginia Galilei, who won our sympathy (and such a different role to her performance in Harp in the South), Joshua Everett - once again in short trousers, and lovely as Andrea Sarti. Dinaksha Perera was nicely grounded as Mrs Sarti and Sophie Henley demanded attention in an interesting portrayal of the Pope.

This is a likeable and talented cohort, and I look forward to seeing them grow over their last year at WAAPA.

Kimberley Shaw

Photographer: Stephen Heath.