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Act 1, Scene 1, Part 1

• The play begins as Bertozzo attempts to get the Maniac to confess to illegally impersonating a psychiatrist.

• Bertozzo confronts the Maniac with his arrest record, saying he's been charged a number of times for impersonating figures from a lawyer to a bishop to a university lecturer in psychology.
• The Maniac cheerfully admits that he has posed as everything Bertozzo suggests, explaining that he suffers from a mania for performing.

• He then points out that he may have been arrested many times, but he's never been convicted.

• Bertozzo, intrigued in spite of himself, asks if the Maniac has ever impersonated a judge.
• The Maniac speaks at length of his desire to do exactly that.

• As Bertozzo becomes increasingly angry and frustrated, the Maniac reminds him that he is bound by law to treat him (a diagnosed madman) with respect, or he is subject to punishment.
• Bertozzo...

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