Scene 2
The second scene starts in the office where the anarchist has fallen out of the window. MANIAC plays a judge now and that gives him authority to the policemen who he now starts to interrogate about the case of the anarchist. He asks PISSANI to get the SUPERINTENDENT to join them which he does. BERTOZZO is not there. MANIAC starts to confront PISSANI and SUPERINTENDENT with facts and quotes which make the whole explanation of the anarchist’s death look unreliable. He refers to the protocols, and press-interviews, which show distressing contradictions, pretending he is trying to help them making it sound more serious. They try to make everything fit to the things that are known to the public, such as the exact time of the ‘fall’, and at the same time to give reasonable explanations for the death so that they are not to blame. After demolishing any semblance of credibility in the conflicting and implausible police accounts, he tells them that the public wants their heads and their only solution is to jump out of the window just as the anarchist did. PISSANI is convinced to jump but then the SUPERINTENDENT comes up with the idea to construct a new version of events. MANIAC helps them to do it and he proposes that they sang a song with the anarchist to show the public how friendly they were with him. The scene ends with this song.
ACT TWO
Scene 1
It starts with PISSANI, MANIAC and SUPERINTENDENT singing the same song. MANIAC carries on provoking and fooling them to the point where the SUPERINTENDENT in a rush of anger and confusion finally seems to admit that he did push the anarchist out of the window. At that moment a phone call tells them that there is a journalist waiting downstairs to interview SUPERINTENDENT about the anarchist-case. MANIAC offers to play the role of CAPTAIN MARCANTONIO BANZI PICCINI to help the policemen in case the journalist would ask tricky questions. He dresses up in a gaudy disguise with false hand and leg, an eye patch and a wild wig, which makes the police look ridiculous for the journalist. Miss FELETTI, the journalist, also confronts the policemen with new aspects and refers to some contradictions in the protocols and the witness’ statements. MANIAC gives explanations for those which bear even more obvious contradictions. He tries to let her find out about the mendacity of the police without them noticing it. BERTOZZO enters with a reproduction of the bomb that exploded in the Agricultural Bank. He recognizes MANIAC but he isn’t sure who he is. PISSANI and SUPERINTENDENT try to keep him quiet by kicking him. He carries on trying to find out who is in front of him while MANIAC and FELETTI continue to discuss about the incident. Through the whole scene ridiculous things happen like for instance: MANIAC’s false hand comes off or his glass eye falls on the floor which he swallows a bit later. But FELETTI doesn’t pay much attention to those things, she is interested only in scandals, she’s a journalist. After PISSANI and SUPERINTENDENT chased BERTOZZO off through the door and came back on stage again BERTOZZO goes mad. He takes CONSTABLE’s gun and forces MANIAC to give the policemen and FELETTI who was forced to handcuff them all, including herself, to the window frame, his papers to find out who he really is. MANIAC who is not handcuffed continues with a political speech while the others go through his papers unbelievingly. Suddenly he starts to get away from the actual play into up to date political gossip, which shows frightening similarities to the play’s plot to show that the police is always the same, always corrupt. This stylistic devise is used to get the audience more involved. The other actors break from the script as well but as soon as they do they are actors whereas MANIAC still remains MANIAC even during the breaking. After all he finds his way back and reveals that he has taped everything since he first was in this room. FELETTI then recognizes him as a famous sports journalist; this has the effect that MANIAC becomes normal, while everything is abnormal. He says he will send this tape everywhere and suddenly presents a detonator to the bomb. He hands the keys of the handcuffs to FELETTI and leaves them all with the bomb, 30 seconds and her to decide: either to ‘release them, write your story, but the evidence will die with me (MANIAC) and the bunch will undoubtedly be acquitted. Don’t release them and you become my accomplice’
FELETTI decides to escape.
But there are actually 2 ends to the story: FELETTI releases them but is handcuffed again to the window frame by the policemen. However, MANIAC always has the last word.