We live in an age of skyscrapers, towers of glass that together form gleaming cities, proud monuments of our technical feats. But as explored in Tony Kushner’s The Illusion, when it comes to accepting each other and even understanding the range of our own emotions, we as a society have made little progress.
Based on Pierre Corneille’s 1636 play the L’Illusion Comique, Mask & Bauble’s production of The Illusion, directed by Tom Huddleston (CAS ‘05), examines the illusion of love and our need to reshape human emotion to fit our own self-delusions of truth and normality.
Often cloaked in the appearance of comedy, The Illusion makes striking comments on the inability for us to surrender to the instability of love. The play begins with Pridamant, played by John Dzundza (CAS ‘06), an arrogant yet remorseful 17th century French lawyer, venturing into the cave of the magician Alcandre, played by Chris Hajduk (CAS ‘04). There he discovers what has become of his estranged son, “Hero.”
Alcandre conjures three visions of Hero’s life full of jealousy and intrigue involving Pridamant’s son in a series of love triangles. The bitterness and regret only increase from scene to scene as Pridamant’s son grows from a hopeful youth to a man tormented by his conflicting needs for love and forgiveness. As he discovers the true fate of his son, Pridamant slowly evolves from a critical parent to a sympathetic father.
Love and hate are juxtaposed throughout Alcandre’s three visions, with each exploring the darker side. At first we see Hero, played by Brendan Snow (CAS ‘06) whimsically chasing after Ingenue, his young female lover, played by Sarah Sexton (CAS ‘07). Ingenue’s maid, played by Jen Rogers (CAS ‘06), helps the young lovers meet in secret as their innocent love blooms. In the second vision, the characters have aged to young adults. Ingenue now must overcome the demands of her unfeeling father and the adoration of a wealthy fool to win Hero’s love. But Hero is no longer an inexperienced child, now a young man plagued by greed and lust. Their simple and childlike love turns into a passionate romance concluding in the third vision with marital infidelity, abandon, and death.
The Illusion most effectively examines the painful link between love and hate in the relationships between characters. Dzundza’s performance embodies Pridamant’s internal struggle between obstinacy and reconciliation: Though frightened at Hero’s capacity for love, Pridamant’s love for his son at times is so overwhelming it sometimes leads him to violence. He would rather ignore this fear than confront the pain and passion associated with them.
From within the darkness and intimacy of the wooden set designed by Sorell Richard, Alcandre the magician draws the audience into its smoked-filled world of illusion. Though Alcandre’s first vision in the play is at times exhaustingly saccharine in its depiction of youthful innocence, this production of Kushner’s The Illusion is a generally an enjoyable experience.
The production was marked by quality performances from Dzundza and Snow, but Sexton and Rogers were especially compelling in their portrayals of women overwhelmed by love amidst bitterness.
Though we live in a complex society that openly embrace the physical evidence of our technological advances, we often shun love rather than deal with its potentially dark and upsetting consequences. As Alcandre says, “The art of illusion is the art of love, and the art of love is the blood-red heart of the world.” Mask & Bauble’s intimate production of The Illusion helps us to understand the complexity of relationships in the hopes that in the future humanity will not fear love’s inconstancy, but will embrace it and become part of the drama that it brings.
The Illusion will be performed in Poulton Hall at 8 p.m. on Oct. 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24 and 25. Student tickets are $6, general tickets are $9.
