How does 'Accidental Death of an Anarchist' by Dario Fo suggest that there are many different layers of truth and reality?

Truth and reality are two alternate concepts that Dario Fo distorts and superimposes so that they blend into one formulated structure. The spectators are left disorientated and confounded but still crucially aware of one fact- intense corruption lies at the heart of the play. The nature of this corruption is that of the government and the police within Italy in the 20th Century, as their incompetence was highlighted by their dealings with the Giuseppe Pinelli case which is the focal point of the play. They were accused of murdering and utilising unprofessional means of interrogation on the supposed Anarchist, which sparked an uproar of controversy. Thus, the deep corruption that the play revolves around is paramount in fully understanding the reasons as to why and how Fo builds up his layers of truth and reality; as physically within Italy the source of power was obscure, but it permeated and infected justice and was a reality in all lives. Mirroring this, Fo’s truth and realities are both clear and physical yet simultaneously indeterminate. I will be examining firstly the created reality of the Maniac, then fluidity of truth within the play and finally how the physical structure of the play mirrors layers of reality. The immediate alteration of truth that we are faced with is the Maniac’s impersonation of various roles. It is unclear if these pretences are based ludicrous insanity or a calculated deception to infiltrate the police, either way; the Maniac creates his own realities. Inspector Bertozzo states, ‘you were passing yourself off as a psychiatrist, a lecturer… trading under false pretences’, this implies that the Maniac conducted them fraudulently, the reality being the Maniac defying the law in order to con people out of money. The ellipses used after the list of his actions adds will convey a pause of judgemental finality. Contrarily, the Maniac justifies himself, ‘I’m mad, Inspector: certified mad!’, which shows that his actions were legitimately the result of insanity and his created truths were ‘a thing about dreaming up characters and then acting them out’. However, as an audience we are skeptical as to the true cause of his impersonation, as the assurance of ‘certified mad’ makes us concur the opposite, that it is all a ploy in order to expose the police even further. Even more paradoxically is the way the police trust the impersonator after he has told them he is ‘certified mad’ as surely it follows that his madness is also a facade, and even if it not; should they rely on the words of a person who is mad? Reality and truth here is distorted, as the Maniac physically distorts them by adding upon the assumptions made to alter your perception of what is real.