The
Illusion
Adapted
by Tony Kushner from Pierre Corneille
Directed by Paul Mullins
Director's
Message
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| Amanda Ronconi and Robert Petkoff
in THE ILLUSION. |
Pierre Corneille (1606-1684) proved to be one of the dominant
figures in the development of seventeenth century French neoclassical
drama. During his long association with the theatres of Paris,
he wrote more than 30 plays. L'Illusion Comique, written in
1636, represents his mastery of the grand and majestic style
of neoclassical drama. His most celebrated work, Le Cid, was
written a year later and marked the beginning of a resurgence
in French drama.
This modern rendering of The Illusion was written by Tony
Kushner in 1990. While remaining faithful to the style and
spirit of the original work, Kushner has invented a new, contemporary
play that is both a revival of and an homage to the work of
one of the most influential dramatists in the history of the
theatre.
-- Paul Mullins and Vijay Mathew
"Allegory of the Cave" From The Republic
By Plato, circa 360 b.c.e.
Translated by Benjamin Jowett
And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature
is enlightened or unenlightened: Behold! human beings living
in a underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light
and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their
childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they
cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented
by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind
them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire
and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see,
if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen
which marionette players have in front of them, over which
they show the puppets.
I see.
And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying
all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made
of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over
the wall?
You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange prisoners.
Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows,
or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the
opposite wall of the cave? To them the truth would be literally
nothing but the shadows of the images.
That is certain.
And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if
the prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At
first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly
to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards
the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress
him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in
his former state he had seen the shadows; and then conceive
someone saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion,
but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his
eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer
vision -- what will be his reply? And you may further imagine
that his instructor is pointing to the objects as they pass
and requiring him to name them -- will he not be perplexed?
Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are
truer than the objects which are now shown to him?
Far truer.
And suppose once more, that he is reluctantly dragged up
a steep and rugged ascent, and held fast until he is forced
into the presence of the sun himself, is he not likely to
be pained and irritated? When he approaches the light his
eyes will be dazzled, and he will not be able to see anything
at all of what are now called realities.
Not all in a moment.
He will require to grow accustomed to the sight of the upper
world. And first he will see the shadows best, next the reflections
of men and other objects in the water, and then the objects
themselves; then he will gaze upon the light of the moon and
the stars and the spangled heaven; and he will see the sky
and the stars by night better than the sun or the light of
the sun by day?
Certainly.
Last of he will be able to see the sun, and not mere reflections
of him in the water, but he will see him in his own proper
place, and not in another; and he will contemplate him as
he is.
Certainly.
This entire allegory, I said, you may now append, dear Glaucon,
to the previous argument; the prison-house is the world of
sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not
misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be
the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world according
to my poor belief, which, at your desire, I have expressed
whether rightly or wrongly God knows.
Our argument shows that the power and capacity of learning
exists in the soul already; and that just as the eye was unable
to turn from darkness to light without the whole body, so
too the instrument of knowledge can only by the movement of
the whole soul be turned from the world of becoming into that
of being, and learn by degrees to endure the sight of being,
and of the brightest and best of being, or in other words,
of the good.
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