Basic Trope: A character has to play a prop.
- Straight: Tim plays a snowman in Generic Christmas Play. His job is standing still, only moving a little when the actual characters damage and fix him.
- Exaggerated:
- Tim plays a snowman. He spends the entire play doing absolutely nothing, and his costume covers him completely. Slapping the costume on a mannequin and putting it on the stage would've accomplished the same thing.
- The play features dozens of snowmen played by kids.
- Downplayed:
- Tim has two roles: playing a snowman that appears on scene for a minute, and playing a minor character in the climax.
- Tim plays a snowman that gets knocked over at one point from someone else in the play, though the snowman still isn't an active character.
- Justified:
- It's an elementary school play. They needed a role for every kid, and didn't want the play to get overtaken by too many unnecessary characters.
- the school promised that anyone who attends the auditions will get a part, but Tim's acting is so loud and overdone or so wooden that he's unfit to play an actual character.
- Tim is an in-scene stage-hand, who's task is to remove the patches covering the painted bloodstains on the actors' costumes.
- Tim is the short notice replacement for the damaged snowman prop.
- Inverted: For some inexplicable reason, an actual snowman plays the main character in Generic Christmas Play.
- Subverted: When asked about his part in the recent school play, Tim says he played a snowman. The play was based on "Frosty the Snowman" and featured a living snowman as an actual character.
- Double Subverted: It turns out that poor Tim played a non-living snowman — not Frosty.
- Parodied:
- Every prop—such as tables, chairs, houses—is played by a kid, even when it's clearly impractical.
- Tim's "performance" is the highlight of the show. He gets a standing ovation and roses thrown onto the stage for him.
- Zig Zagged: The class goes through several plays throughout the school year, and the rotation scheme the teacher implements over who gets speaking roles means some plays Tim plays a prop, and others he gets an active role.
- Tim plays a snowman... in a play based on Frosty the Snowman... but he played a non-living snowman... which nonetheless comes alive as well... though it only comes alive in the climax, meaning that Tim's role boiled down to a Spear Carrier at best.
- Averted: A school play doesn't have enough roles for everyone. Instead of forcing some kids to play inanimate objects, the teachers either shoehorn in minor characters or just decide not to give everyone a role.
- Enforced: Tim's actor happened to lose his voice just before recording, but is otherwise well enough to be on stage.
- Lampshaded: "We got a big class, so looks like we're gonna relocate the play into the middle of a forest."
- Invoked: Tim is forced to join the play, so he intentionally botches his audition in order to get a minor role.
- Exploited: Tim actually didn't want to be in the school play but was forced to either by his parents or teacher. Him being a snowman means his "lines" are easy to remember and minimizes the chance of his stage fright jeopardizing the production.
- Defied:
- Tim refuses to play a snowman and demands to be taken out of the play if he doesn't get a better role.
- Tim decides to put his improv skills to use and goes off-script by playing a magically-enchanted snowman.
- The school just decides to make the snowman a large prop.
- Discussed: "I'm not joining the school play. With my luck, I'll end up playing a tree, a snowman or something like that."
- Conversed: "School play, huh? Ten bucks says Tim ends up playing a tree — he always gets the short end of the stick when it comes to stardom."
- Played For Laughs: Tim awkwardly tries to improvise a role for the snowman. Hilarity ensues.
- Played For Drama: Tim dreams of becoming an actor, and doesn't take it well when he's assigned to play a snowman — he knows it means "you suck, but we can't kick you out of the play".
Back to Playing a Tree.
