Driven by the hope of finding his son, Clindor, who disappeared ten years ago, Primadant one day enters a mysterious cave and consults the magician Alcandre, who is said to have the power to help him in this quest. The cavern then transforms into a stage, and Clindor appears. As images of his son's life unfold before him, Primadant is by turns frightened, swept away, and moved. He doesn't yet know that the enchantment of the vision is overlaid with theatrical illusion... An extravagant work, *L'Illusion comique* is, in Corneille's words, "a strange monster." By transgressing the laws of classical doctrine, the author rehabilitates the actor's status and, in passing, offers us an admirable defense of the theater.
