Theatrical instances of the Department of Redundancy Department in theatre.
- Older Than Steam, thanks to this bit from William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice:My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter!
Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats!
Justice! the law! my ducats, and my daughter!
A sealed bag, two sealed bags of ducats,
Of double ducats, stolen from me by my daughter!
And jewels, two stones, two rich and precious stones,
Stolen by my daughter! Justice! find the girl;
She hath the stones upon her, and the ducats.- As a matter of fact, Shylock's whole speech pattern is like this, possibly to enforce the idea that he's nightmarishly persistent (count how many times he says some variant on "I'll have my bond, I will not hear thee speak"). Launcelot Gobbo uses the trope more comedically, especially in his opening monologue.
"Fia!" says the fiend. "Away!" says the fiend. "For the heavens, rouse up a brave mind", says the fiend, "and run!" note- Portia gets a moment as well:
I speak too long, but 'tis to pheaze the time,
To eke it and to draw it out in length...- Justified in that she's doing exactly what she says she's doing—stalling for time.
- Shakespeare uses it again in one of Dogberry's speeches:
Marry, sir, they have committed false report;
moreover, they have spoken untruths; secondarily,
they are slanders; sixth and lastly, they have
belied a lady; thirdly, they have verified unjust
things; and, to conclude, they are lying knaves.
*** Don Pedro replies: "First I ask thee what have they done? Thirdly, what's their offence? Sixth and lastly, why they are committed? and to conclude, what you lay to their charge?"But, masters, here are your parts, and I am to entreat you, request you and desire you to con them by tomorrow night...You are looked for and called for, asked for and sought for in the great chamber.- Don Armado, Holofernes, and Nathaniel from Love's Labour's Lost all speak in this trope.
- The Australian spoof of B-Movie sci-fi and horror films, Attack of the Attacking Attackers!. At the end of the play they announce the To Be Continued sequel, Revenge of the Revenging Revengers!
- From Wicked, "Thank Goodness":Glinda: There's a kind of a sort of...cost
There's a couple of things get...lost
There are bridges you cross
You didn't know you crossed
Until you've crossed. - The Seattle-based ACT Theatre. "A Contemporary Theatre" Theatre.
- Cyrano de Bergerac: This trope is combined with Rule of Three: The gratuitous repetition of a question or a gesture for three or more times are shown in the play:
- Played for Laughs: In Act I Montfleury tries to say his lines four times, Cyrano orders him to disappear when Cyrano claps his hands the third time, the bore asks Cyrano three times if he has a protector. Lampshaded by Cyrano when he does not answer a third time:
Cyrano: (irritated) No, I have told you twice! Must I repeat?- Played for Drama: In Act II, Cyrano asks Roxana three times what she would do if Christian is not as eloquent as he is fair; she answers two times that being fair, he has to be eloquent, and the third time she invokes Driven to Suicide. In Act IV, Cyrano asks Roxane if she would love Christian, even if he were ugly, three times. She answers yes every time.
- From Fly by Night:Harold: You're like some kind of magical wizard!
Miriam: What other kind of wizard is there? - "...then you think, 'I'm a thinker, and I think thinks!'"
- Penny Pingleton of Hairspray is rather prone to this, suggesting they should write things on the signs they're planning to make and making mention of the fact that the armed guards will be armed.
- Les Misérables has a song called "I Dreamed a Dream".
- Also this bit from "Castle on a Cloud":
Please do not send me out alone, not in the darkness on my own. - In Urinetown this trope is used many times (often being Played for Laughs) but the crowning moment has to go to this (spoiler-y) gem:Penelope: Hope is my daughter...Ensemble: (small gasp)Penelope: AND I AM HER MOTHER!Ensemble: (LARGE GASP)
