PERFECT TRAGEDY - SHORT SYNOPSIS

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Act One

The year is 2033 and the world is in ruins. What is left of the population spend their time playing a lethal gambling game, ‘ACE’ which allows the rich few to sponsor the slum-dwellers who each pitch their case for having the worst life. Protagonist Cap’s only chance of escaping the slums and winning his life back is to convince his audience of a tragic existence he never had. Meanwhile, bitter and fierce female lead Satchel and her younger, milder, sister, Cady, are bound by debt to a dangerous gang; led by antagonist Admon; who have found a loophole in the game. Admon and his followers will ‘sell’ disasters to players in return for cash. When Satchel and Cap meet, each realises they can use the other to get what they want. Putting aside repressed romantic yearnings, Satchel plans to tear apart Cap’s life, winning him sympathetic sponsors and fans from the permanent, odds-driven audience. Cap comes to realise he too has feelings for Satchel. Admon and Satchel’s first staged disaster is a violent mugging. The façade is successful and Cap’s story rockets to the top of the game. As well as earning money for himself and his mother and sister, Cap’s success also attracts his teenage love interest: Lorna Lake. To Satchel’s jealousy and disgust, the two become a couple. Cap grows greedy and demands a second, larger disaster. Admon obliges and orders Satchel to carry it out: she must set Cap’s house on fire with Cap’s sister, Maya, still inside; or Admon will kill Cady. Satchel chooses Cady and Act One ends with the second, fatal disaster. 

Act Two

Since the fire and the death of his sister, Cap’s popularity has soared and he is now a minor celebrity, with Lorna Lake by his side. Satchel is almost caught for what she has done, but successfully passes the blame onto Cap’s amiable ally from the slums, Rowan. Racked with guilt, Satchel refuses to participate any further and is brutally attacked by the gang, nursed back to health by Cady as Cady transitions into adulthood. Admon orders Satchel to carry out the final disaster, once again in return for Cady’s life: Satchel must kill Lorna at Cap’s imminent, high-profile event in which he will pitch his story once more for the highest prize the game can offer. At the event, chaos erupts as Satchel desperately tries to carry out the deed – but cannot. When several spectators also draw weapons, Cap is rendered unconscious, and the scene goes black. He wakes imprisoned with Lorna, Admon, Satchel and Cady, where he is given a choice: the game knows he has been cheating. However, his audience have become so attached to his relationship with Lorna that they are willing to let the two of them survive as ACE icons, providing he sacrifices Satchel. Cap unexpectedly chooses Satchel, but Satchel refuses and heads to the noose herself, allowing Cap to win the game – but at this cost.