A tangled threesome with Voltaire at its center

As celebrity love triangles go, among the most complicated -- and historically significant -- was one that found the 18th century French writer Voltaire caught in an emotional tug of war between his mistress, the brilliant aristocratic Emilie du Chatelet, and his admirer, Frederick the Great, the poet-warrior king of Prussia. Their amorous adventures helped shape the turbulent intellectual, political and religious currents in an age of cultural transition.

They also make a remarkably compelling story, rescued from historical obscurity by Jean-Claude van Itallie’s new three-character play, “Light,” in a beautifully performed debut from Pasadena’s The Theatre @ Boston Court.

Drawing on the extensive writings of all three protagonists, Van Itallie’s original dialogue lends crisp voices to these glittering personalities while telescoping their life stories into manageable shape (considering that the correspondence between Voltaire and Frederick alone fills 150 volumes, we get off pretty easy).

To efficiently cover this wealth of biographical detail, Van Itallie relies extensively on monologues, which make the piece a bit talky at times. However, the direct interactions between characters are focused where they count most -- on pivotal emotional exchanges of piercing eloquence whose immediacy stands out in sharp relief against summary narrative.

Under Jessica Kubzansky’s stylish direction, a trio of first-rate performers evokes finely drawn, riveting characters racked with inner conflicts. As Voltaire, an overeducated offspring of France’s emerging merchant class, Lenny Von Dohlen reveals razor-sharp intellectual bravado constantly undermined by feelings of inadequacy even as he tries to ascend the social ladder.

John Hansen’s Frederick is both a tower of strength and a lost soul -- an artist and homosexual who never aspired to power, he sees in Voltaire’s poetry the embodiment of everything he gave up in life.

Jeanie Hackett’s Emilie supplies the emotional heart of the piece. An accomplished mathematician, linguist and musician in a time that offered little reward for talented women, she shares Voltaire’s intellect as well as his alienation -- they fit together “like two spheres of light.”

Against an ominous backdrop of intolerance (heretical thinkers were still burned), enlightenment treads a precarious path through these three interlocking lives, as Emilie and Frederick vie for the conquest of Voltaire. Trophy wives are a dime a dozen, but a trophy philosopher -- that’s a new one.

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‘Light’

Where: Main Stage at Boston Court, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena

When: 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays

Ends: Nov. 28 (dark Thanksgiving)

Price: $30

Contact: (626) 683-6883 or www.bostoncourt.com

Running time: 2 hours, 35 minutes