In a town called Perception, the citizens are ruled by an extravagant madness. It demands they vandalize the gardens of any neighbours whose words they cannot understand, spit venom at the devious devils who are clearly trying to make them look stupid, dream up retaliatory sexual exploits to repay the scheming men in their lives, and that an elderly citizen should dance in the street in imitation of a disabled, flying rodent to attempt to embarrass her visiting relatives. And amid this mayhem, the chief constable is desperate to identify the criminal amongst his citizens but is as flummoxed as the rest; while in the community's goldfish bowls, the behaviour of the fish mimics the human pantomime around them, which engages the interest of an eccentric, local professor. The Tragedy of Perception is a comic allegory about communication problems.