The Virtuous Burglar was written by Dario Fo as a satire on society, relationships, institutions like marriage and adultery, bringing to the fore the widening gap between the rich and the poor. The farce in the original text centres around the character of Aldo, a professional burglar who is very proud of his skills and his code of ethics. Aldo is planning to rob the apartment of a wealthy couple, but he gets caught in a hilarious series of mishaps and misunderstandings that prevent him from carrying out his plan.