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# Review: A Life of Galileo @ Birmingham Rep
- URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/review-a-life-of-galileo-birmingham-rep/
- Published: 2014-03-05T19:01:03.000Z
- Updated: 2014-03-05T19:01:03.000Z
- Author: Phil Preece
- Tags: Reviews, What's On, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-22 20:48

I have a confession to make – Ian McDiarmid changed my life.

Seeing him as Edward II in 1986 at Manchester’s Royal Exchange made me realise what a truly great player could do with a monumental role. Seeing his performance as Galileo in this RSC production merely confirms my view.

At heart Brecht is more lecturer than dramatist yet he does a great job here humanising this breathtaking history of ideas while Mr McDiarmid’s genius makes scientific saint Galileo totally believable, simple at heart yet with a burning desire for facts in a superstitious age.

His astronomical researches aroused the antagonism of an all-powerful Inquisition but a feigned recantation saved his life. If this lack of heroism seems cowardly now it was actually a canny strategy that allowed him to continue his ground-breaking enquiries in secret, leaving a scientifically enlightened world the richer for his guile.

The resulting drama is a tour de force of eloquence depicting one of the first truly modern men. With a great supporting cast this play deserves to be seen for its very human take on one of the giant figures who made our modern world.

A Life of Galileo runs at Birmingham Rep until March 8\. For tickets visit [birmingham-rep.co.uk](http://birmingham-rep.co.uk/?ref=lichfieldlive.co.uk) or phone the box office on 0121 236 4455.