This play is António José Da Silva’s first theatrical work. It is loosely inspired by the second volume of Cervantes’ Don Quixote and introduces a new conception of comedy into Portuguese theatre, consisting of spoken text and sung parts, and giving music an important role. A precursor of the opéra-bouffe, this genre brings together the prosaic and the heroic, the farcical and the satirical, going as far as the obscene and the scatological. The comical language of the play is based mostly on play on words, inspired by baroque traditions, and ambiguous physical comedy. The play is modelled on works from the 16th and 17th centuries, such as those of Portuguese playwright Gil Vicente (1465-1537?) and Spanish playwrights Lope de Vega (1562-1635) and Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681).

In 2008, the company Émilie Valantin staged a French translation of António José Da Silva’s play at the Comédie-Française: it was the first performance for actors and puppets ever put on in this theatre.

Don Quixote takes up his role as a wandering knight and asks Sancho Pança (Sancho Panza) to help prepare before they leave, while his niece and the childminder beg him to stay. Sancho Pança gives instructions for his will and bids farewell to his wife and daughter. Don Quixote declares his love to a woman peasant whom he believes is Dulcineia under a spell. He mistakes comedians for giants, but the fight is avoided thanks to Sancho Pança’s donkey.

In a forest, they meet Sansão Carrasco (Sansón Carrasco), who pretends to be a wandering knight. Don Quixote challenges him to a duel and unhorses him. Then, he attacks a caged lion, kills it and declares that he will now have to be called the Knight of the Lions. When he learns that a wandering knight is imprisoned in the cave of Montesinos, Don Quixote descends into it and tries to remove a spell from Lord Montesinos and from Belerma, the lady of the knight Durorante. The earth shakes and he is carried into the air with Sancho Pança. Back in the forest, Don Quixote believes that Dulcineia has been changed into Sancho Pança and declares his love to him; Sancho threatens to kick him until Don Quixote’s illusion is broken. The muse Calíope (Calliope) comes down from a cloud and asks Don Quixote to fight the bad poets. Don Quixote chases them off. Apolo (Apollo) offers Pancho’s son, who is a poet, to join the Parnassus.

After embarking on a boat, Don Quixote and Sancho are shipwrecked. They are taken in a palace. Sancho asks for the island promised by his master. A devil on a donkey announces that the evil spell put on Dulcineia has come to an end. After being flogged, Sancho is appointed governor of the island. He passes several burlesque judgements, dictates a fanciful letter for his wife and then goes out to have lunch. He is forced to consult a doctor and quarrels with a judge about whether eating is good or not. Touring his island, Sancho wants to stop a serenade, but he flees after a sword fight. The scene ends with a fake attack on his island: Sancho avoids being killed.

The Countess Trifaldi asks Don Quixote to remove her spell. Mounting a horse that came down from the sky, he leaves and starts his quest as a wandering knight again, while Sancho announces that he plans on going back home. Carrasco tries one last time to bring Don Quixote back to reality, fights him in a duel, unhorses him and forces him to go back home. Sancho complains that he has won nothing in this adventure.