Illusions

"We thought the earth was flat, that the sun revolved around us, and that God had made us in his image.
In our youth we believed that time was infinite and love eternal.
Then in old age we discover that life was only a moment, and love... love is truly eternal, beautiful and boundless.
But then came that mad Christopher Columbus, the cruel Galileo, the heartless Darwin, and finally that shameless Wyrypajew."
(László Bagossy)

Ivan Vyrypaev, one of the most prominent figures in contemporary Russian drama, explores the depths of human relationships in his play "Illusions" - with disarming honesty and quiet humor. The play follows four characters - two married couples - and peels back the hidden layers of feeling, attachment and love, confronting the audience with the fragile line between illusion and reality.

The action is both lyrical and ironic: the characters look back on their pasts and confess long-buried secrets, while the boundary between truth and imagination blurs. What is real love? What does it mean to be faithful? How are people capable of loving one another - and themselves - in the face of inevitable transience? These questions drive the play's thinking. Vyrypaev's language is at once philosophical and sensual, moving and at times genuinely funny. The play offers no easy answers; instead it invites the audience to reconsider their own lives.