This comedy makes use of the baroque tradition of the theatre within the theatre, but the characters attend a puppet show here – probably to add to the ridicule of them being country dwellers in Paris. It was first performed in February 1665 at the Palais-Royal (the theatre of Molière’s company), during a mascarade by the duke of Saint-Aignant – Réception faite par un gentilhomme de campagne à une compagnie choisie à sa mode, qui le vient visiter. This comedy was the 8th part of the show. Louis XIV danced during 10th and last one, while surrounded by male and female Peasants. The mise en abyme is twofold then: the puppet play is performed during a comedy which is in turn performed during a royal show.

It is likely that the play became independent from the mascarade later and was performed on its own several times for the royal court. Indeed, in the epistle at the beginning of the published play, the author addresses the characters and tells them they are “all puffed up with pride over having so much entertained” the king. In December 1665, the play was performed at the Hôtel de Bourgogne. In 1680, it became part of the repertory of the Comédie-Française, where it was regularly performed (51 times between 1680 and 1699) and taken up again in 1718 and 1720.

Climène – a provincial woman who abhors the countryside – is staying at an inn in Paris, to keep her father company while he is being kept in the city for a trial. Together with her servant Laurette and two of her friends, the Marquis and Timante, they make fun of the way the other characters speak. They all attend a puppet show, comment on it, and are chided by the puppet Pantalon.