History ChekhovsGun / Theatre

* In ''Theatre/{{Thirteen}}'', it is mentioned that Archie has Muscular Dystrophy, however, the disease doesn't show up again until [[ManipulativeBastard He uses the disease to guilt Evan's mom into buying tickets for an R-rated movie]]

* ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' includes an embroidered handkerchief that becomes central to the plot in the second act. Performances, such as 1995's film version, include the handkerchief earlier in the film as a part of Desdemona's costume. Shakespeare's plays, as written, do not include prop or costuming instructions, so the necessity to include specific props such as this must be inferred by the director.
* How about guns in Chekhov's own plays? In ''Theatre/TheSeagull'', Konstantin Treplyev kills a seagull and brings his rifle on stage. The trope is seemingly {{subverted}} when he attempts to use it to suicide and is not successful, but at the end of the play manages to succeed. In ''Theatre/UncleVanya'' however, the gun with which [[spoiler:Uncle Vanya attempts to kill the professor]] only gets a mention in the stage directions at the beginning of the first act, and the trope is completely averted in ''Theatre/TheCherryOrchard'', where a gun is seen but never fired.
* Used to great effect in Eugene O'Neill's one act play ''Theatre/TheEmperorJones''. In the first scene, the eponymous self-proclaimed Emperor explains to another character how he managed to convince all of his subjects that only bullets made of pure silver could hurt him. To demonstrate his arrogance and overconfidence, he pulls out his gun and shows the other character an actual SilverBullet he commissioned himself which he keeps inside the gun's bullet chamber at all times as a final resort in case the vengeful natives finally catch up with him. Naturally, the silver bullet is used towards the end of the play, but in an ironic twist, the actual bullet itself is used to 'kill' a terrifying hallucination dredged up by the Emperor's own mind. In the play's final scene, the report of the gun has given away his position to the vengeful natives, who, upon locating their hated despot in the middle of a dark jungle, riddle the Emperor full of homemade silver bullets.
* Used in Beaumarchais's ''Theatre/TheMarriageOfFigaro'': Marcellina makes a throwaway comment in Act I regarding her long-lost son--who is naturally revealed later to be Figaro, conveniently removing his obligation to marry her.
** [[Theatre/TheMarriageOfFigaro Mozart's opera]] dispenses with the setup, making the LukeIAmYourFather moment much funnier.
* In ''Theatre/{{Thirteen}}'', it is mentioned that Archie has Muscular Dystrophy, however, the disease doesn't show up again until [[ManipulativeBastard He uses the disease to guilt Evan's mom into buying tickets for an R-rated movie]]

* ''Theatre/TheBibleTheCompleteWordOfGodAbridged'' mentions this trope in the script:
-->He gets the [=SuperSoaker=] Fire Extinguisher, thus fulfilling the Chekhovian unities, to wit: "If you bring on a [=SuperSoaker=] Fire Extinguisher, it must eventually go off."

* In ''Theatre/{{Amaluna}}'', Miranda is given a crystal/stone by the Moon Goddess at the beginning of the latter's aerial hoop act. Towards the end of the show, she uses its powers to save Romeo from Cali.

* In ''Theatre/TheWildDuck'' great attention is paid to the Ekdal's family gun or "That there gun" as Hjelmer Ekdal's wife puts it. [[spoiler: In the final act of the play, Ekdal's young daughter Hedvig kills herself with it.]]

* The title character of ''Theatre/HeddaGabler'' only derives much enjoyment from two things: the pistols she inherited from her father, and manipulating people. At the end of the third act she gives her disgraced ex-lover Løvborg one of them, urging him to commit suicide with it (although he ends up shooting himself by accident instead). When this is found out by her husband's unscrupulous friend Judge Brack, who hopes to blackmail her into sleeping with him, she shoots herself with the other one.
* In the opera ''Königskinder'', the WickedWitch enlists the Goose Girl to help bake a poisoned loaf of bread that will kill anyone who eats so much as half of it. Several acts later, this item is unsuspectingly bought by a starving young couple who split it between themselves. [[spoiler:Ironically, one of them is the Goose Girl.]]
* A literal example in ''Theatre/TheCruciferOfBlood''. Watson first enters carrying a starters pistol, which returns in the climax.

* How about guns in Chekhov's own plays? In ''Theatre/TheSeagull'', Konstantin Treplyev kills a seagull and brings his rifle on stage. The trope is seemingly {{subverted}} when he attempts to use it to suicide and is not successful, but at the end of the play manages to succeed. In ''Theatre/UncleVanya'' however, the gun with which [[spoiler:Uncle Vanya attempts to kill the professor]] only gets a mention in the stage directions at the beginning of the first act, and the trope is completely averted in ''The Cherry Orchard'', where a gun is seen but never fired.
* Used to great effect in Eugene O'Neill's one act play ''Theatre/TheEmperorJones'' (1920). In the first scene, the eponymous self-proclaimed Emperor explains to another character how he managed to convince all of his subjects that only bullets made of pure silver could hurt him. To demonstrate his arrogance and overconfidence, he pulls out his gun and shows the other character an actual SilverBullet he commissioned himself which he keeps inside the gun's bullet chamber at all times as a final resort in case the vengeful natives finally catch up with him. Naturally, the silver bullet is used towards the end of the play, but in an ironic twist, the actual bullet itself is used to 'kill' a terrifying hallucination dredged up by the Emperor's own mind. In the play's final scene, the report of the gun has given away his position to the vengeful natives, who, upon locating their hated despot in the middle of a dark jungle, riddle the Emperor full of homemade silver bullets.

* How about guns in Chekhov's own plays? In ''Theatre/TheSeagull'', Konstantin Treplyev kills a seagull and brings his rifle on stage. The trope is seemingly {{subverted}} when he attempts to use it to suicide and is not successful, but at the end of the play manages to succeed. It is, however, averted in ''Theatre/UncleVanya'', where [[spoiler: Uncle Vanya attempts to kill the professor]] but no clues are given beforehand, and a gun is seen in ''The Cherry Orchard'', but never fired.

* Used to great effect in Eugene O'Neill's one act play ''TheEmperorJones'' (1920). In the first scene, the eponymous self-proclaimed Emperor explains to another character how he managed to convince all of his subjects that only bullets made of pure silver could hurt him. To demonstrate his arrogance and overconfidence, he pulls out his gun and shows the other character an actual SilverBullet he commissioned himself which he keeps inside the gun's bullet chamber at all times as a final resort in case the vengeful natives finally catch up with him. Naturally, the silver bullet is used towards the end of the play, but in an ironic twist, the actual bullet itself is used to 'kill' a terrifying hallucination dredged up by the Emperor's own mind. In the play's final scene, the report of the gun has given away his position to the vengeful natives, who, upon locating their hated despot in the middle of a dark jungle, riddle the Emperor full of homemade silver bullets.

* How about guns in Chekhov's own plays? In ''TheSeagull'', Konstantin Treplyev kills a seagull and brings his rifle on stage. The trope is seemingly {{subverted}} when he attempts to use it to suicide and is not successful, but at the end of the play manages to succeed. It is, however, averted in ''UncleVanya'', where [[spoiler: Uncle Vanya attempts to kill the professor]] but no clues are given beforehand, and a gun is seen in ''The Cherry Orchard'', but never fired.

* In ''MissSaigon'', Kim shoots her cousin Thuy when he tries to kill her mixed-race son. A flashback later in the show reveals that Chris gave her the gun for protection. This might technically invert this trope, but it's played straight later when Kim uses the same gun to shoot herself in order to force Chris and his wife to take the boy to America with them.

* In ''Amaluna'', Miranda is given a crystal/stone by the Moon Goddess at the beginning of the latter's aerial hoop act. Towards the end of the show, she uses its powers to save Romeo from Cali.

* In Ibsen's ''The Wild Duck'' great attention is paid to the Ekdal's family gun or "That there gun" as Hjelmer Ekdal's wife puts it. [[spoiler: In the final act of the play, Ekdal's young daughter Hedvig kills herself with it.]]

* In ''{{Thirteen}}'', it is mentioned that Archie has Muscular Dystrophy, however, the disease doesn't show up again until [[ManipulativeBastard He uses the disease to guilt Evan's mom into buying tickets for an R-rated movie]]

* ''The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged)'' mentions this trope in the script:

* Used to great effect in Eugene O'Neill's one act play ''TheEmperorJones'' (1920). In the first scene, the eponymous self-proclaimed Emperor explains to another character how he managed to convince all of his subjects that only bullets made of pure silver could hurt him. To demonstrate his arrogance and overconfidence, he pulls out his gun and shows the other character an actual silver bullet he commissioned himself which he keeps inside the gun's bullet chamber at all times as a final resort in case the vengeful natives finally catch up with him. Naturally, the silver bullet is used towards the end of the play, but in an ironic twist, the actual bullet itself is used to 'kill' a terrifying hallucination dredged up by the Emperor's own mind. In the play's final scene, the report of the gun has given away his position to the vengeful natives, who, upon locating their hated despot in the middle of a dark jungle, riddle the Emperor full of homemade silver bullets.

* CyranoDeBergerac: Cyrano’s slight cut at Act II Scene III would be important at Act II Scene VI.
* LovesLaboursLost: Berowne mentions in Act I scene 1 that the Princess's father is "decrepit, sick, and bedrid." This never comes up again until five acts of witty banter later, when the father dies, so the ladies have to leave and go into mourning and none of the couples can get married.
* In ''MissSaigon'', Kim shoots her cousin Thuy when he tries to kill her mixed-race son. A flashback later in the show reveals that Chris gave her the gun for protection. This might technically invert this trope, but it's played straight later when Kim uses the same gun to shoot herself in order to force Chris and his wife to take the boy to America with them.

* An actual gun belonging to Joe Keller is introduced in the first act of Arthur Miller's "All My Sons" and reappears in the last scene [[spoiler: when Joe shoots himself.]]

* LovesLaboursLost: Berowne mentions in Act I scene 1 that the Princess's father is "decrepit, sick, and bedrid." This never comes up again until five acts of witty banter later, when the father dies, so the ladies have to leave and go into mourning and none of the couples can get married.

* CyranoDeBergerac: Cyrano’s slight cut at Act II Scene III would be important at Act II Scene VI.

* ''{{Othello}}'' includes an embroidered handkerchief that becomes central to the plot in the second act. Performances, such as 1995's film version, include the handkerchief earlier in the film as a part of Desdemona's costume. Shakespeare's plays, as written, do not include prop or costuming instructions, so the necessity to include specific props such as this must be inferred by the director.

* Used in Beaumarchais's ''{{The Marriage of Figaro}}'': Marcellina makes a throwaway comment in Act I regarding her long-lost son--who is naturally revealed later to be Figaro, conveniently removing his obligation to marry her.
** [[TheMarriageOfFigaro Mozart's opera]] dispenses with the setup, making the LukeIAmYourFather moment much funnier.

* In ''[=~13~=]'', it is mentioned that Archie has Muscular Dystrophy, however, the disease doesn't show up again until [[ManipulativeBastard He uses the disease to guilt Evan's mom into buying tickets for an R-rated movie]]

* An actual gun belonging to Joe Keller is introduced in the first act of Arthur Miller's "All My Sons" and reappears in the last scene [[spoiler: when Joe shoots himself.]]

* In ''[=~13~=]'', it is mentioned that Archie has Muscular Dystrophy, however, the disease doesn't show up again until [[ManipulativeBastard He uses the disease to guilt Evan's mom into buying tickets for an R-rated movie]]