Évariste Galois (Bourg-la-Reine 1811 – Paris 1832) is a figure which is both romantic and tragic at the same time, with a temperament more suited to a great poet than a man of science. His work laid the foundations for the theory which bears his name in the field of abstract algebra. Galois was a fervent republican, also famous for a toast to the King which he made while holding a knife in his hand, an episode which landed him in prison. A few months later, the young man died in a duel, while fighting to save the honour of a woman, killed by a shot from a pistol fired by a companion in political battle. During the night before the duel, foreseeing the outcome, he threw himself into his work to put his notes in order, and wrote a letter to his mathematician friend Auguste Chevalier.
The writer Paolo Giordano, the Strega Award prize-winner for La solitudine dei numeri primi, celebrates the figure of Galois in a blend of reality and myth, presenting us with an intense monologue-confession in the form of a letter. What emerges is a portrait of a wonderful character with impulsive and passionate traits: the passion for mathematics, his militant political stance, his delusions, friendships and love. To speak of Galois now is not only to relive the life of a mathematician, but it is also to place oneself in the shoes of an intellectual who lived in his era and tried to make a change, a lesson for our contemporary lives.
The director and actor in the lead role, the Sicilian Fabrizio Falco, has previously played at the Piccolo for the director Luca Ronconi in Panico, Celestina and Lehman Trilogy, and is a cinema actor acclaimed for his role alongside Daniele Ciprì and Marco Bellocchio.