The comedy, centered on five characters (Rita, Rodolfo, Agostino, Bettina, and Don Attilio - o viecchio pazzo-), has as background the Italy of the 60s between the economic boom and the perennial unemployment crisis. The cylinder, well explained by Agostino-Eduardo in the comedy, is a representation of power, designed to intimidate the ignorant for its only evocative power. It can also be seen as a sort of Pirandellian mask, where the character of Augustine wears it to defend himself and represent something that he is not.