From the introduction: (typos in source) You're all members of a drama group in Venice. All of you are rehearsing a play you're going to perform in the next days in "La Fenice" theater. All of a sudden a fire breaks out; due to the current renovation of the play house, alarm systems are out of service, so you're not aware of what's happening. The flames enclose the structure, and for you it's too late: doors won't budge anymore, and every fire exit is shut. You try to concretize: "someone will help us" you think. But as time passes, nothing happens but the flames devouring the structure more and more. The stage, the only perfectly intact area, is the place you choose to shelter yourself. Hope starts to fade away, so you decide to do a last, crazy thing: you act. You decide to play what you'd like to do right now, knowing you probably will die.