Customer Reviews

The Illusion (TCG Translations)

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This spring, we will be performing Tony Kushner's adaptation of "The Illusion" at my high school. I could not have asked for a better play. Besides the fact that I'll be playing Pridament (a wonderful boost to my ego), the play itself is genius. I was under its spell starting on page one, and didn't stop enjoying it until the twist ending and startling conclusion. It is the prime example of a perfect play: stylized, with your typical hero-heroine-rival-clown setup. Comic dialogue, a tragic, heartbreaking theme, and most of the sensual delights of a traditional sex farce.

The story outline is simple: a desperate, depressed, dying lawyer (Pridament of Avignon) visits the cave of the magician Alcandre. His dying wish is to find his only son, whom he had banished fifteen years before. With the help of Alcandre and his servant, the tortured deaf-mute Amanuensis, Pridament sees several visions of his son's life over the past years. He witnesses three different visions, all of which involve his son, a lover and her scheming maid, and a vengeful rival. Most of the action of the play takes place within these visions, with Alcandre and Pridament simply watching from the outside. But when this play really shines is within the short scenes between the father, magician, and servant. The characterizations of all three, especially of the Amanuensis (a mostly silent role), are key to the theme of the play.

The diction of this play is phenomenal. Written completely in free poetic verse, it has the most extensive vocabulary of any play I have read. Full of alliteration, allusion, rhyme and bizarre sentance structure, The Illusion truly lives up to its name.

"He doesn't speak because he has no tongue..."

"If not in this life, than in the next."

I loved this play! I first saw it in college, and it was very moving, funny, and interesting. It doesn't hurt that we had a fantastic cast. I love the spooky elements of Alcandre and Pridamant's meeting- I love the translation of this play, by the genius Tony Kushner. There's a timeless element of the Illusion of life in the theatre, as well as death and surprise and twist endings.

I bought this play because my granddaughter is in it. It's an unusual, surreal, story of a man who goes to a wizard to find out what has happened to his son after he kicked him out years earlier. He now regrets it. The wizard brings up views progressing through his son's life. The father, however, can not talk to him or touch him.

If you like unusual plays, you will really enjoy this. It's almost a morality story. If you find fantasy distasteful and prefer realistic stories, the play probably isn't your cup of tea!

Not to begrudge Tony Kushner the success of his adaptation of Pierre Corneille's extraordinary 1636 play "L'Illusion Comique," but personally I find the original more interesting at virtually every point. In particular, the central "gimmick" in Act Five is far richer in meaning in the original (won't say more, so as not to spoil the play for those who don't yet know it). On the plus side, the popularity of Kushner's version has certainly promoted appreciation of the play in English-speaking countries, and for that we should be grateful. Unfortunately, this appears to have led to the neglect of poet Richard Wilbur's superb 2006 translation, "The Theatre of Illusion," another tour de force in rhymed couplets in the line of his classic versions of Molière (not to mention his lyrics for Leonard Bernstein's "Candide"). If you want a truly brilliant English-language version, and one which moreover is thought-by-thought faithful to Corneille, be sure to check out Wilbur.

This is an excellent and very performable version of Corneille's play. It is an adaptation and not just a mere translation. It is an early work of Kushner, who most recently turned his translating and adaptation skills to a highly successful version of Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children, performed recently in a significant production in NY.

BTW, Mr. Helbig, what part of Angels in America is BLOATED? It might not be perfect, but dramaturgically it is VERY tightly constructed. Kushner maintains this while telling an epic and sweeping story in a highly theatrical manner that is consistently compelling and interesting. If anything, it's too brief, and that's after 7 hours!

if you know pierre corneille and his work, you will admire kushner for adapting a play of him so successfully. theater full of illusions. what is real what's not. 17th century and year 2000. many things have changed but the magic on and about stage still remains. kushner gives a great example of adapting a play. the characters may speak in poetry but 20th centuries flair is obvious.

It was in great condition, and arrived very fast. Thank you so much.