“What is Love?” Well, it depends on who you ask. According to Bob Merrill’s song from the musical Carnival, “Love Makes the World Go Round.” According to William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, it inspires two hormonal teenagers to hook up, tie the knot, and commit suicide in under a week. And yes Saturday Night Live fans, it’s also the name of that Haddaway song from the movie “Night at the Roxbury.”

Promethean Theatre Ensemble’s presentation of The Illusion, however, uses a different approach in tackling this open-ended question. Rather than focus on one or two facets of love, it gives us several scenarios where its characters respond to love in dramatically different ways.

This brilliant tactic enables audience members to find relatable moments with each of characters, and we bond with them up until the very end – at least this audience member did.

Adapted by Tony Kushner (Angels in America) from Pierre Corneille’s 1636 drama L’Illusion Comique, the play focuses on lawyer and nobleman Pridamant of Avignon. Pridamant journeys to a magician’s cave in search of the son he banished fifteen years prior. Using visions and inter-dimensional travel, the magician reveals to Pridamant the son’s life through a series of love affairs, conquests and betrayals.

Promethean is only three seasons old, and its determination to make its mark on the Chicago theater scene definitely shows in this production. Under the careful watch of Sharla K. Nolte (stage manager), the technical crew comes together beautifully, using MacGyver-worthy tactics to bring this magical world to life.

Employing only three large geometric shapes, colored lights, and scenic sound effects, Roger Wykes (scenic design), Tamar Geist (light design) and Christopher Kiz (sound design) easily transport us to a cave, a garden, a palace, a prison, a forest, and back to the cave before we can say “Expeidia.com!” Okay, well maybe not that fast, but kudos anyway.

Director Russell Berns and his cast deliver excellent performances as well. Nick Lake, who plays the naïve and lustful son, is simply captivating in his role. From the way he delivers his lines to his body language, one can’t help but be transfixed by his character, and we’re easily pulled into his world once he takes the stage.

Devon Candura, who plays the son’s love interest, easily shifts from one emotion to the next. Anne Korajczyk, who for the most part plays the wise-cracking maid, acts as an emotional anchor for both the characters and the audience.

Steve Gensler plays quite the creep in his role as a jealous and jilted lover. Blake Williams plays the egotistical French nobleman Matamore in a flat-out hilarious performance.

There were a few weak points here and there. Tom Weber, who plays Pridamant, seems to be quoting lines more than presenting a character in the first act. Ed Rutherford, who plays the magician, [sic] s at times a little over-dramatic. Both, however, easily make amends in the second act by delivering stellar performances.

Lastly, the exchange between Candura’s character and her father Alcandre, played by John Christopher Brown, came across as a little over-the-top. Other than these minor disappointments, the play is brilliant and should not be missed. Now go see it, scoot!