The Illusion is a play by Tony Kushner, adapted from Pierre Corneille's seventeenth-century comedy, L'Illusion Comique.
[1] It follows a contrite father, Pridamant, seeking news of his prodigal son from the sorcerer Alcandre.
Inexplicably, each scene finds the boy in a slightly different world where names change and allegiances shift.
Pridamant watches, but only as the strange tale reaches its conclusion does he learn the ultimate truth about his son.
The play is set in the 17th century in the dark cave of the magician Alcandre, near Remulac, a small town in the south of France.