The Theatre of Illusion

by Pierre Corneille

Book Overview

Pierre Corneille, in his original dedication for The Theatre of Illusion, described the play as a "strange monster." He first called these five acts a comedy; later, a "caprice" and an "extravagant trifle." Written in 1635 and staged in 1636, the play vanished from the stage for the next three hundred years--to be revived in 1937 by Louis Jouvet and the Com die Fran aise. Since then it has been widely considered, in Virginia Scott's words, "Corneille's...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0156032317
• ISBN13: 9780156032315
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A highly performable translation of Corneille by an excellent playwright

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!

"A Play Within A Play Within A play"

This enchanting theater piece from the French baroque period deserves to be better known to English audiences. It combines comedy, tragedy, and tragi-comedy as it plays with the ever fresh themes of reality vs. illusion and theater vs. actual life. Wilbur's translation, in rhymed couplets, is distinguished not surprisingly by shrewd word choice and wit throughout. If the play has a flaw, I would say it's in the character of Matamore, the cowardly braggart. His appearances, as Corneille conceived them, involve - unfortunately - a large amount of non-incremental repetition in character and dialogue. All in all, though, the play in this translation is fascinating and worthy of production.

Wonderful!

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.

The Illusion- Great

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

great adaptation

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.