About the work
"L'Illusion comique" is a tragicomedy by Pierre Corneille, written in 1635 and first performed in 1636 at the Théâtre du Marais; it was not printed until 1639. The five-act play blends comedy, tragedy and pastoral into a virtuosic play about theatre itself.
Plot
The desperate father Pridamant, searching for his son Clindor, who ran away ten years earlier, has the magician Alcandre conjure up scenes of Clindor's adventures as servant to the braggart Matamore, as Isabelle's lover, and as a prisoner. The seemingly fatal final scene turns out to be a stage rehearsal: Clindor has become an actor. Through this illusion of the theatre, father and son are reunited.
Cultural significance
With its celebration of the acting profession and its play-within-a-play structure, "L'Illusion comique" is regarded as Corneille's most original early work and an important forerunner of baroque theatre about theatre itself.