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The style's the thing
The director of The Illusion hopes to work "a little bit of magic'' this modern adaptation of a 17th century play.
By JOHN FLEMING
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 2, 2000
[Times photo: Fred Victorin]
Kimberly Kay and Scott Janes share an amorous moment during rehearsal for "The Illusion."
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Adaptations of classic plays by modern playwrights are all the rage these days. Christopher Hampton has adapted Ibsen, Richard Nelson has adapted Pirandello, Constance Congdon has adapted Moliere, Regina Taylor has adapted Chekhov, Lillian Garrett-Groag has adapted Lorca, and so on.
American Stage is getting into the act with The Illusion, a "free adaptation" that Tony Kushner made in 1988 of Pierre Corneille's 1635 L'Illusion Comique. Kushner, whose Angels in America was the most celebrated American play in a generation, has also written adaptations of Brecht's The Good Person of Setzuan and Goethe's Stella.
There's more to adapting a classic than translating it and bringing the language up to date.
"I think an adaptation is about essence," said Jessica Kubzansky, who is directing The Illusion.
"A translation is meant to be faithful to the letter and the spirit of the original. I think the playwright takes some liberties with an adaptation because he thinks he can serve the story better for the audience today. Kushner has added a character. He's made less of some characters and more of others. It's his spin on a classical text. He manages to infuse a very modern sensibility into a very old play."
The Illusion centers on the rich lawyer Pridamant (played by Matt Conley), who seeks out the magician Alacandre (Janis Benson), who has been likened to Prospero in The Tempest. Pridamant wants to learn what has become of his estranged son, Calisto (Scott Janes). Through a series of illusions, the magician shows the lawyer what Calisto has been doing for the last 15 years. There's a theatrical twist at the end that holds a surprise for both the father and the audience.
"Corneille himself called it a bizarre monster of a script because it veered from comedy to tragedy and didn't really adhere to the unities of time, place and action," said Kubzansky, who has read the original. "This was written about 25 years after Shakespeare wrote The Tempest. Calderon's Life Is a Dream was floating around at the time. Like other romantics in the 17th century, Corneille was asking, "What is illusion and what is reality?' "
Featuring a play within a play within a play, The Illusion has been called Kushner's love letter to the theater.
"In a self-referential way, it has a lot to do with the theater," Kubzansky said. "The play talks a lot about the intangible power of love. A person can have an experience which is powerful and moving and profound and life-changing, and it doesn't necessarily have had to be a real experience. It can be like a dream or like sitting in the theater."
Kubzansky, who lives in Los Angeles, calls The Illusion a style piece.
"I think my biggest job is to find the style that the play wants to play in that enables all of its elements of comedy and tragedy to coexist," she said. "Most good plays, I think, are style pieces one way or another. House of Blue Leaves is a style piece. Heartbreak House is a style piece. Every play needs its own style, and, for whatever reason, I am frequently hired to do the style pieces. I do many more of those than I do kitchen-sink realism pieces.
"If we do our jobs, in addition to the poetic words and a great story, there is a little bit of magic in this play."
THEATER PREVIEW
The Illusion, Tony Kushner's adaptation of a play by Pierre Corneille, opens Friday and runs through Nov. 26 at American Stage. Tickets: $20 to $28. (727) 823-PLAY.
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