The Illusion is a lively blend of comic surprises that melds the 1630s with 2004. Tony Kushner, who gave us the Broadway hit (recently made for HBO) Angels in America, freely adapted French playwright Pierre Corneille’s play L Illusion Comique into this current production. Writing in the 1600s, Corneille was best known for Le Cid, but his earlier comedies are a wonderful blend of wit and fantasy and Kushner’s adaptation is marvelous in the capable hands of Cinnabar’s thespians.

Imagine the cave of the magician Alcandre (Nancy Prebilich) many centuries ago near a small town in the South of France. Pridamont (Arte L. Whyte), an aging father, suddenly regrets that he banished his freethinking son years ago from the family home. As a last resort for reconciliation he seeks out the magician’s powers to hopefully locate his son for him.

When Alcandre shows Pridamont excerpts from his son Calisto’s (Nicholas Pelczar) life, the father is at first disturbed by certain inconsistencies like changes in his son’s name and circumstances, but eventually he gets caught up in the unfolding drama that his flesh and blood is a part of. The audience too is caught up in the comic illusion of a drama within a drama. But how deeply woven this illusion is will only reveal itself in the end with a cathartic laugh from everyone but the father.

Yet something in the drama itself moves Pridamont to a long lost emotion that breaths hope into characters and audience alike.

This production is full of surprises and a rich satisfying humor. For tickets or more information call (707) 763-8920 or visit www.cinnabartheater.org.

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