The play is based on the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing and on the death of Giuseppe Pinelli while being interrogated by the police.

Pissani reveals to the Maniac that a judge is due at the police station to investigate the interrogation of an "accidental" death of the anarchist, whilst the Maniac pretends to be a colleague of Bertozzo's and tells Pissani that Bertozzo is "blowing a raspberry" at him.

The Maniac decides to impersonate the judge, Marco Malipiero, an opportunity he has been waiting a while for, and to humiliate the policemen responsible for the "accidental" death of an Anarchist.

The Maniac, now impersonating Malipiero, finds Pissani and his lackey, the Constable, in the room where the anarchist was during his interrogation.

He tells them that it is a journalist called Maria Feletti, whom the Superintendent agreed to meet to clear rumors about the interrogation, wanting to come up to the office.

Feletti is unconvinced, noting how the death of the anarchist was reported by the police to be a suicide, opposed to their original comment that it was "accidental".

Feletti begins to pick out the inconsistencies in the policemen's stories, and showing that bombers in Milan are fascists, not revolutionaries.

The Maniac strips off his disguise, making him recognizable to Feletti, who identifies him as Paulo Davidovitch Gandolpho, the "Prose Pimpernel of the Permanent Revolution" and "notorious sports editor of Lotta Continua".

Revealing that the bomb replica can in fact work, setting it off on a timer, the Maniac has Bertozzo join his fellow policemen.

A TV movie of the play, with the Belt and Braces cast and Richards once more in the lead, was commissioned by Channel 4 in 1983 and broadcast the subsequent year.

An English adaptation by Wild Rice, Singapore under the leadership of Ivan Heng, co-directed by Jo Kukathas and Glen Goei starring Ghafir Akbar was premiered on 28th September 2024 in Singapore, two preview shows scheduled for 26th and 27th September 2024 were cancelled as the script had not received the requisite approvals.