Open Rehearsal: The Court Theatre Blog
February 23, 2010
Into the Cave
Both Pierre Corneille’s L’Illusion comique and Tony Kushner’s Illusion take place inside the cave of the magician Alcandre. Within this cave, however, Alcandre shows three different scenes of “illusion” to Pridamant. Over the centuries, different productions have answered this staging challenge in different ways. Below is Christian Bérard’s rendering of a literal cave (complete with chandeliers) for Louis Jouvet’s 1937 production at the Comédie Française.
For Court Theatre’s Illusion, scenic designer Collette Pollard has rendered the entirety of Court’s auditorium a cavern (our stage is, after all, built mostly below ground level). Here’s a scale model of the set looking down from house right.
Alcandre’s illusions are conjured on top of what we’ve come to call “the slab” in rehearsal. Alcandre and Pridamant orbit around the slab watching visions from the life of Pridamant’s long-lost son. Beneath the slab lie a collection of moving gears and cogs that constitute the mechanical magic of Alcandre’s cave. Here’s a closer angle of the set model:
The slab also has a few tricks up its sleeve that will be revealed during the show. It was inspired by a piece of kinetic sculpture by Arthur Ganson called “Thinking Chair” that Collette encountered in Austria, and pictured below:
Finally, here’s the progress of our carpenters, working against a tight deadline:
THE ILLUSION runs March 11 - April 11 at Court Theatre.
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