Line #40 Main/PerilousPlay


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17	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/7eab3d86_bcb0_4a40_98f8_8b7e6034a969.jpeg]]]]
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19	The heroes have been captured and are at the mercy of the villain. Rather than simply killing them, the villain wishes to draw out their torment and humiliate them. So the heroes are forced to perform in a play, often written by the villain themself. This usually takes place in front of a CaptiveAudience, and the heroes won't survive til the curtain call. Expect BadBadActing, either from the reluctant performers, the villain's [[StylisticSuck lousy script]], or a combination of the two.
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21	Compare to ScheherezadeGambit, in which the heroes initiate the performance in order to buy time.
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23	----
24	!!Examples:
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26	[[foldercontrol]]
27
28	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
29	* In the last episode of ''Anime/{{Texhnolyze}}'', Ichise searches for Ran in order to take her from dying Lux to a surface world. He finds her on a theatre stage with [[TheCaligula Kano]] as a director and [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul Shapes]] as unwilling audience. [[spoiler:[[AndIMustScream Her body is removed and her head is placed on a two-headed dummy]]. Ichise kills Kano and gives a {{Mercy Kill}} to Ran]].
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
33	* ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'': Upon capturing Shrek, Prince Charming re-enacts the play he did at the beginning of the movie, but with higher production values. He intends for it to end with him executing a chained-up Shrek, though the play is quickly derailed by Shrek's heckling.
34	* A non-lethal concert variant happens in ''WesternAnimation/TrollsWorldTour'' with Queen Barb's Victory Rock Concert. There, Barb shows the effects of the Ultimate Power Chord on non-Rock Trolls by blasting it to most of the captured Troll Tribe leaders, resulting in them turning into so-called "Rock Zombies" brainwashed under Rock music. Branch also ends up receiving a blast via TakingTheBullet for Queen Poppy, the only remaining leader to be blasted yet.
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
38	* In the climax of ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'', Frank N. Furter forces Brad, Janet, Rocky, and Columbia to perform in a floor show with him.
39	[[/folder]]
40
41	[[folder:Literature]]
42	* ''Literature/MonsterANovelOfFrankenstein'': The Marquis de Sade and Victor Frankenstein have conspired to hold a theatrical performance which involves torture, sexual abuse, and murder.
43	* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'': The Bad Beginning. Count Olaf forces Violet and Klaus to act in his play "The Marvelous Marriage" under threat of harming a kidnapped Sunny. Rather than trying to kill the Baudelaires, this play is meant to [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe forcibly marry Violet to Count Olaf]]. As such, the majority of the play is [[StylisticSuck terribly written]].
44	[[/folder]]
45
46	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
47	* In the first season finale of ''Series/DeadlyClass'', Chester forces Marcus and Shandy to participate in his fake talk show.
48	* ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'': Cancer Zodiarts takes a person's souls, and then challenges them to "Open Mic From Hell". They make him laugh? He loses his power. They don't? He snips their souls, sending their owners into comas.
49	* There are multiple instances of this from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. Most notably, Parmen uses his advanced mental powers to force Kirk and Spock to perform humiliating stunts in "Plato's Stepchildren".
50	[[/folder]]
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52	[[folder:Video Games]]
53	* ''VideoGame/TheNightOfTheRabbit'': The Great Zaroff has turned the inside of the First Tree into a theater, with the audience being the brainwashed people of Mousewood. In an attempt to break Jerry's spirit, he forces him to reenact various scenes from his adventure with a darker twist. Even worse is that his friends have been brainwashed into going along with the play as well.
54	* ''VideoGame/PocketMirror'': In the bad ending of "The Witching Hour", [[spoiler:the Strange Boy]] kidnaps G, [[MouthStitchedShut stitches her mouth shut]], and forces her to watch a horrific stage play in which he brutally murders all of the characters, mocking them all the while. Each one of the girls is strung up like a puppet, and [[spoiler:the Strange Boy]] speaks for them.
55	[[/folder]]
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57	[[folder:Web Comics]]
58	* ''Webcomic/CucumberQuest'': Count Legato kidnaps the people of Organetto, and later Cucumber and company, and forces them to be extras in his "magnum opus", Prince Crescendo, which mainly consists of them singing his praises.
59	* ''Webcomic/{{Widdershins}}'': A rogue [[OurSpiritsAreDifferent Spirit]] of [[SevenDeadlySins Envy]] takes over a theatre and puts on depraved (and deadly) skits that exploit the viewers' and actors' vulnerabilities, enforced with a combination of {{Emotion Bomb}}ing and {{People Puppet\|s}}ry. [[spoiler:It's [[https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/february-7th-2017 foiled]] when TheResenter Voss refuses to play his role as "the Hero" and kill his UnknownRival Wolfe.]]
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Western Animation]]
63	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': The Planet Express crew take Creator/LeonardNimoy to the planet where the rest of the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' actors had gone... only for everybody to get captured by Melllvar, an energy cloud creature who is also an [[LoonyFan obsessed Trekkie]]. Melllvar declares that they will now be forced to participate in a FanConvention for all eternity, and the first activity is for the cast to record an awful, awful [[FanFiction fan script]] he had written for the show.
64	-->'''[[Creator/WilliamShatner Shatner]]:''' ''[deadpan]'' Alas, my ship, whom I love like a woman, is... disabled.\
65	'''Nimoy:''' ''[deadpan]'' Fascinating, Captain, and logical too, that we need some help.
66	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': Mumbo sucks all of the Teen Titans into a world within his hat, uses his magic to turn them into animals, and then forces them to perform alongside him onstage in his various magic acts. But before the finale where he'll, "make them disappear forever," they trick him by painting themselves to match the background to make it look like they've escaped their cages.
67	[[/folder]]

Context Main / PerilousPlay