 Fo tells the story of being invited to Seville in 1991 to discuss his earlier play, "Isabella, Three Tall Ships, and a Con Man", recounting the hostile reception it received in Rome in 1963, and how under the regime of Francisco Franco a Spanish theatre troupe was arrested for attempting to stage that play.Sensing that his Seville audience was hostile as well, Fo improvised a story that would eventually serve as the basis of "Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas".Johan Padan flees Venice after his lover is arrested by the Inquisition and accused of witchcraft.