THE CARTESIAN HEART, Breadline Theatre Group, at Center Theater Ensemble. In this generous, ambitious ensemble effort (based on a script by director Michael Oswalt), the Breadliners artfully update three fantastic E.T.A. Hoffmann tales immortalized by Jacques Offenbach in his 1881 masterwork Les contes d’Hoffmann.
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The setting is an urban coffeehouse where Nicklausse (Hoffmann’s faithful companion and muse) regrets the loss of her lesbian lover. There she meets a modern Hoffmann and is soon drawn into his cautionary tales of love lost to obsession, performed by patrons of the cafe. Hoffmann recounts his self-deluded obsession with three women, each of whom also resembles Nicklausse’s ex-lover: the mechanical doll Olympia, the singer Antonia, and the shadow-stealing courtesan Jeux. Hoffmann’s defeats inspire Nicklausse to learn from her lesser loss and persist in hope.
