Spring 1944. A small town on the outskirts of Rome, during the Nazioccupation, waiting spasmodically for the Americans…just daysbefore the Via Rasella bombing. In an era laden with unknowns,with war practically on their doorstep, people spend their days inthe anguish of impending danger, but there are also those wholive seemingly outside of reality. In a decaying theater, a companyof philodramatic actors is staging a “white telephone” comedyfor the local mayor; the leading lady is a former variety actress,one Antonietta Seracchi, who hides under the exotic and patheticstage name of Malva Fures. The story starts when a little man wholives there displaced, Bartolo, sneaks into the theater: he begins tonag the performers because he absolutely wants to be an actor;according to him, it was even Vittorio De Sica who encouragedhim. The little man’s presence, in addition to creating a series ofanxieties, misunderstandings and paradoxes, will come to exposethe behavior of the company, which in fact hides a secret..
