Introduction Rehearsals for David Hare’s version of Brecht’s The Life of Galileo began on 8 May 2006. You can read a fascinating account of how the company grappled with this great play by reading the rehearsal diaries of the assistant director, Nathan Curry. The play’s director, Howard Davies, acknowledged that the play resonated as much today as it did when Brecht first began writing it in the late 1930s. The ideas and arguments it contains engaged the whole company. It was their eagerness to debate the issues (and the willingness of audiences to listen to them) that Davies found hugely satisfying . The production opened in the Olivier Theatre on Thursday 6 July 2006. It received overwhelming critical approval but more significantly, both on that night and throughout the entire run of the play, the large auditorium was filled with audiences listening intensely for over three hours to a play grounded in detailed argument. The relevance of the play’s issues to today’s complex world partly explains its attraction. But it also had audiences on the edges of their seats at least in part because, as actor Bertie Carvel (Ludovico) puts it, the production had more than a hint of a film noir thriller about it . The Life of Galileo opened in the National's Olivier Theatre on 6 July 2006 The cast was as follows: Galileo Galilei: Simon Russell Beale Andrea Sarti, as a boy: Ryan Watson Andrea Sarti, older: Bryan Dick Virginia, Galileo’s daughter: Elisabeth Dermot Walsh Signora Sarti: Julia Ford The Little Monk, Fulganzio: Zubin Varla Federzoni, the lens grinder: Dermot Kerrigan Sagredo, Galileo’s friend: Duncan Bell Ludovico Marsili: Bertie Carvel The Chancellor / Official (sc 10): Tim McMullan Cosimo De Medici, as a boy: Jamie Manton Cosimo De Medici, older/ First Monk/ First Clerk/ Guarding Monk: Tristan Beint Chamberlain/ Very Old Cardinal/ Vanni, an industrialist: Ian Barritt Philosopher/ Clavius/ The Rector: Simon Merrells Mathematician/ Astronomer: Christopher Gilling Second Monk/ Second Clerk: Amit Shah The Cardinal Inquisitor: Oliver Ford Davies Cardinal Barberini, later Pope Urban III: Andrew Woodall Cardinal Bellarmin/ Footman: Sam Spruell Ballad-Singer/ Guard/ Peasant: Marcus Cunningham 1st Girl/ Ballad-Singer's Wife: Sarah Annis 2nd Girl: Natalie Best 3rd Girl: Lucy Vandi The Creative Team Director: Howard Davies Designer: Bunny Christie Lighting Designer: Mark Henderson Choreographer: Stuart Hopps Music: Paddy Cunneen Fight Director: Terry King Sound Designer: Paul Groothuis Staff Director: Nathan Curry | 
