• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

Thursday, May 30, 1996

For graduate student and director John Lawler, the theater blurs the lines between illusion and reality. He's directing 'The Illusion,' a play that further teases viewers' perceptions. By Rodney Tanaka

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Magicians often defy death with dramatic escapes and dangerous stunts. The magician in "The Illusion," however, conjures up an entire life because of a father's request. Yet death hangs over this performance as well. Or does it?

"The Illusion," at UCLA's Little Theater through June 8, depicts one man's loves, losses and triumphs in 17th century France. The closing revelation casts new light on the events and changes the viewers' perceptions.

"The audience gives their investment in their imagination, which allows them to forget about that and just see it as a beautiful scene, and the emotions that happen in it are very realistic," says John Lawler, a graduate student in the theater department directing this production as his MFA thesis. "That's what theater does very well that other mediums can't do and we want to emphasize that."

The play opens with Pridamant's search for his estranged son. The father turns to a magician for assistance, and the sorcerer conjures up images of his son's life.

"The moment I see my son I want to step in there and talk to him," says Danny Kaufman, who plays Pridamant. "The magician explains to my character that you can't do that, you have to watch. That's what your position is."

Pridamant must watch passively as his son, whose name changes from Calisto to Clindo to Theogenes, experiences many love affairs and painful repercussions. One woman who affects his life changes from Melibea to Isabelle to Hippolyta.

"Calisto falls in love with every woman he sees," says Tracie Lockwood, who plays Melibea. "Part of the play is him trying to cope with that and other people dealing with his unfaithfulness to him."

Calisto also falls in love with impossibilities, which requires the audience's suspension of disbelief.

"He falls in love with the idea of going to the moon," says Patrick Hallahan, who plays Calisto. "He actually goes to a facade of the moon. He loves it even though we can all see clearly it's not real."

The play hinges on the fantasy world of the theater. The sparse set design, utilizing a series of flats, heightens this illusion.

"The magician and the father are done in blacks and whites towards the front of the stage towards the audience," Lockwood says. "They're looking into the more brightly colored world of the actors onstage."

The stage allows actors to create an unbelievable world. The play's message comments both on the theater and on the theater as a metaphor for love, according to the director.

"The theater is made out of nothing, just a bunch of fakery and illusion, but what happens in that illusion is very real," Lawler says. "An audience watches that and when it's good theater, they get caught up and invest in it with belief and their imagination, and the actors go about to create something very real."

"Likewise, that's the way love works," Lawler adds. "It's intangible and has no substance, yet all the greatest manifestations of man on earth have come from love, and also all the worst things as well."

The play explores the machinations of love with humor and a dark edge. Yet the playwright ultimately takes a positive outlook on love, according to Lawler.

"He goes to great lengths to say that in spite of all of the pain that love can cause you still have to open up your heart to it, you still have to accept them all, the whole range of what an experience of love is because that's what moves the universe," Lawler says. "If you don't experience that, you're not living."

STAGE: "The Illusion," at UCLA's Little Theater in Macgowan Hall through June 8 at 8 p.m. Matinee June 2 at 2 p.m. TIX: $7 for students, $10 for faculty/staff/seniors, $15 general admission. For more info., call the Central Ticket Office at (310) 825-2101.