★★★

Nic Young’s play tells the story of a man on the horns of a dilemma – prove the truth of his theories and face torture and imprisonment or be circumspect and remain safe.

Galileo tried to dress up his new view of the world as a theoretical debate but he was no match for the legal manoeuvring of the Church and his works were banned and he was eventually imprisoned. The accepted wisdom of the day was that because the sun rose in the morning and set at night, it must revolve around the earth.

When Galileo suggested that the opposite was the truth and that the earth and planets revolved around the sun, he was roundly denounced for heresy. Tim Hardy gives a thought provoking performance as Galileo as he treads a fine line between appeasing his oppressors and trying to explain his ideas.

The story is a reminder of the political influence of the Vatican in the Middle Ages and the hypocrisy of its senior figures. The irony of the struggle is that Galileo was a man with deep religious beliefs and a strong faith in divine power. An interesting theme and a catch 22 tale from a previous age.