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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 812
EAN num: 9780881452310
ISBN number: 0881452319
Label: Broadway Play Publishing, Ltd.
Manufacturer: Broadway Play Publishing, Ltd.
Page Count: 72
Printing Date: December 31, 2003
Publishing house: Broadway Play Publishing, Ltd.
Sale Popularity Level: 122549
Studio: Broadway Play Publishing, Ltd.
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Rated by buyers 
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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!
Rated by buyers -
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."
Rated by buyers -
I loved this play! I very 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.
Rated by buyers -
It was in great condition, and arrived very fast. Thank you so much.
Rated by buyers -
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.
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