A Dog's Life (play): Difference between revisions

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Content added Content deleted
prefix>Import Bot
(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Theatre.ADogsLife 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Theatre.ADogsLife, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license)
 
m (Mass update links)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{work}}
{{work}}
A Dog's Life is a one-act play by Pam Valentine. It follows a day in the life of four dogs in a pound when a human comes looking to adopt. The dogs are an old mongrel named Ben, a German Shepherd named Fritz, an incredibly overweight poodle named Fifi, and a hyperactive puppy named Ginger.
A Dog's Life is a one-act play by Pam Valentine. It follows a day in the life of four dogs in a pound when a human comes looking to adopt. The dogs are an old mongrel named Ben, a German Shepherd named Fritz, an incredibly overweight poodle named Fifi, and a hyperactive puppy named Ginger.
{{tropelist}}
----
== This play provides examples of: ==
* [[Berserk Button]]: Fifi's is her weight, Fritz's is babies, and Ben's is {{spoiler|insulting his human.}}
* [[Berserk Button]]: Fifi's is her weight, Fritz's is babies, and Ben's is {{spoiler|insulting his human.}}
* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Ben is a genuinely gentle soul... right up until you press the [[Berserk Button]] detailed above.
* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Ben is a genuinely gentle soul... right up until you press the [[Berserk Button]] detailed above.
Line 29: Line 28:
{{quote| It's gone very... cold, hasn't it? I can't remember ever feeling this cold...}}
{{quote| It's gone very... cold, hasn't it? I can't remember ever feeling this cold...}}
* [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold]]: Fritz. He can be downright nasty, but he's had a pretty hard life. At the end, he {{spoiler|comforts the dying Ben and offers him some of his uneaten biscuit.}}
* [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold]]: Fritz. He can be downright nasty, but he's had a pretty hard life. At the end, he {{spoiler|comforts the dying Ben and offers him some of his uneaten biscuit.}}
* [[My God What Have I Done]]: Ben, after {{spoiler|biting the human who came to adopt a dog because the warden pressed his [[Berserk Button]].}}
* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: Ben, after {{spoiler|biting the human who came to adopt a dog because the warden pressed his [[Berserk Button]].}}
* [[Naive Newcomer]]: Ginger.
* [[Naive Newcomer]]: Ginger.
* [[Nice Guy]]: Ben.
* [[Nice Guy]]: Ben.

Revision as of 00:12, 10 January 2014

A Dog's Life is a one-act play by Pam Valentine. It follows a day in the life of four dogs in a pound when a human comes looking to adopt. The dogs are an old mongrel named Ben, a German Shepherd named Fritz, an incredibly overweight poodle named Fifi, and a hyperactive puppy named Ginger.

Tropes used in A Dog's Life (play) include:

 Fifi: I fell in love with a greyhound once.

Fritz: What has that got to do with anything?

Fifi: Nothing.

 Ginger: How many humans have you had, Fritz?

Fritz: Seven. Or is it eight?

some time later...

Ginger: What's fuzz? Is it food? Is it? Is it?

Fritz: Nine! I have had nine humans.

  • Cerebus Syndrome: Hoo, boy...
  • Child Hater: Fritz. It's played for laughs.
  • Decoy Protagonist: The focus of the story is on Ben, not Ginger.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Mostly Fritz, but Ben also gets in a few digs.
  • Dog Stereotype: Somewhat.
    • Fifi the poodle is very French and quite spoiled, but rarely snooty about it except where Fritz is concerned.
    • Fritz the German shepherd is neither heroic nor particularly skilled, and is actually something of a Jerkass for most of the play.
    • Ben the mongrel is Street Smart, Book Dumb, and functionally the Team Dad.
    • Ginger the puppy is very sweet, but completely hyperactive.
  • Dramedy
  • Fat Girl: Fifi.
  • I'm Cold So Cold: Ben's last words are along these lines, with a fair bit less Narm than is usually present.

  It's gone very... cold, hasn't it? I can't remember ever feeling this cold...

  • Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Fritz. He can be downright nasty, but he's had a pretty hard life. At the end, he comforts the dying Ben and offers him some of his uneaten biscuit.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Ben, after biting the human who came to adopt a dog because the warden pressed his Berserk Button.
  • Naive Newcomer: Ginger.
  • Nice Guy: Ben.
  • No Name Given: The humans are not named.
  • Running Gag: What's a gag? Is it food? Is it? Is it?
  • Suicide By Cop: Ben biting the visitor is functionally this, given that it causes the Warden to schedule him to be put down even sooner.
  • This Is My Human: This is how the dogs refer to their owners, although the humans are still clearly in charge.
  • The Tramp: Ben's master was one. Referring to him as such in front of Ben, however, is a spectacularly bad idea.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Fritz and Fifi have something like this going on.