Day 11: The Title Changes Everything

So today we had to write a play that was either enhanced, had its meaning entirely changed  or could not be understood without its title. Lots of scope for play here, and again I think with more time something quite interesting could come out of this starting point so it's an idea I'd like to return to. Of course the risk is people often know the title before hand so you either give the game away or need to be very clever with your double meanings. In this case I have simply put the title at the end. No cheating!

Four smartly dressed men stand around a table. They are smoking and drinking whiskey. On the table are blueprints, folders, rope, keys, knives, guns. They walk about, agitated, examining the situation from every angle.

Mr. Yellow: You sure this will work this time? I ain’t going back in the slammer.

Mr. Red: Of course it will. Green’s got it all planned out, ain’t ya Green.

Mr. Green: In theory yes, but once it’s all in motion anything can go wrong.

Mr. Red: No excuses Green, will this work, or not?

Mr. Green: Barring any unseen cosmic intervention…yes.

Mr. Blue: Listen to this guy. “Cosmic forces”. Ever since you read that wheelchair guy’s book you got all religious.

Mr. Green: It’s uh…technically not…uh…religion more of an acknowledgement of things outside of my control.

Mr. Blue: Sounds like religion to me. And I thought you smart guys hated religion.

Mr. Red: Enough distractions. Walk us through it Green.

Mr. Green: Well first we, uh, obviously, have to pick his lock. That’s two interlinking tumblers, one of which we can interact with. The second is linked to a primary security system and we do NOT want to set the ball rolling on that.

Mr. Yellow: Sounds tense. I don’t know if I’m the best man for this…my hands shake. I get nervous.

Mr. Red: Dammit Yellow I picked you for a reason. You’ve always been part of this team. This primary system? Is it dangerous?

Mr. Green: Not exactly. It’s very primitive and seems more designed to wake up the owner. We’re counting on him not being there. Still. Setting it off might have a knock on effect we’d rather not have to deal with.

Mr. Red: What next?

Mr. Green: Well then we’ll be in the pipe system.

Mr. Blue: You mean the goddamn sewers.

Mr. Green: Scared of a few rats Blue?

Mr. Blue: Naw…it just…stinks, ya know?

Mr. Yellow: I am.

Mr. Green: What?

Mr. Yellow: Scared of a few rats.

Mr. Red: Dammit Yellow we’re The Mouse Gang. It won’t do no good if one of our members is scared of rats.

Mr. Yellow: Well change the name…Mouse Gang is stupid anyway!

Mr. Red: We are not changing a damn thing. This has been planned for months. <He sighs> Can you please get us back on track Green.

Mr. Green: Well theoretically we come up through the pipes and in to the bathroom. Not through the toilet Yellow. The wall.

Mr. Yellow: And what if someone’s in there?

Mr. Blue: We drown him in the tub. Flip up, head down under the water. Blub blub.

Mr. Green: Then out the bathroom in to the bedroom. He keeps all his money under his bed. Never did trust banks. In and out. Easy peasy.

Mr. Red: And I want no screw ups. Last thing I want is the four of us to end up in a cage like last time. Let’s get to work.

You have just read a play called Mousetrap by Jeremy Linnell