Sound Theatre conjures energetic version of 'The Illusion'

Theater review
Sound Theatre conjures energetic version of 'The Illusion'

Some playwrights glory in the richness of the English language, and Tony Kushner is one. His early script, "The Illusion," is a free-handed adaptation of a classic French comedy by Pierre Corneille. And in Kushner's eloquently witty retelling, it becomes a flight of verbal fancy and a piquant fable about the tricky nature of paternal and romantic love and theater itself.

Sound Theatre has mounted a creditable version of this unusually light, beguiling Kushner fantasia, directed by Teresa Thuman. It is highlighted by the extraordinary stage environment designed by Bryan Boyd, Deborah Sorensen and others, which serves as a craggy magician's cave and a theater-within-a-theater for projections of atmospheric French Baroque landscape paintings.

Within the energetic cast, dashing Matthew Fulbright stands out as a prodigal son whose romantic adventures are conjured for the benefit of his estranged father. But are those escapades real? Or just illusions of illusions?

"The Illusion's" final performances are Friday-Sunday, at Center House Theatre, Seattle Center; $15-$20 (800-838-3006 or www.brownpapertickets.com).

Misha Berson, Seattle Times theater critic