Bang Bang You're Dead

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There are two plays (and two international films ) using variations of the phrase "Bang Bang You're Dead" as title.

Bang! Bang! You're Dead by Tim Kelly

Also known by the full title of Bang! Bang! You're Dead or... What I Learned from Watching Television

Not to be confused with the 1966 comedy film released as Bang! Bang! You're Dead! in North America (original British title: Our Man in Marrakesh[1]).

The original text

The play is an educational piece set at the taping of a bizarre TV game show, where the boyish host, Billy the Kid, guides two teams of contestants through a maze of facts and opinions. Prizes include such oddities as a trip to Boot Hill to view the tombstones and a coroner’s pass to the next autopsy on a teenage handgun victim. The strange proceedings are stopped by a disgruntled viewer who decides the subject matter is much too serious for fun and games. What will Billy do? There’s an unexpected twist. The obvious message — handguns can kill — is dealt with in clever fashion.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

Translated into Afrikaans as Val Met 'n Knal! by Davida Day and published by DALRO as a performance text in 1994.

sources

https://www.pioneerdrama.com/SearchDetail.asp?pc=BANGBANGYO

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Man_in_Marrakesh

Tim Kelly/Davida Day. 1994. Val Met 'n Knal! Johannesburg: DALRO.

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Bang Bang You're Dead by William Mastrosimone (1999)

The original text

The one-act play was inspired by the Thurston High School shooting in Oregon and follows the emotional journey of a high school shooter who is tormented in his jail cell by apparitions of the five classmates he killed.

Translations and adaptations

The play was turned into a 2002 American TV thriller, based on - but not a direct adaptation of - Mastrosimone's work. The film follows a troubled high school student who participates in his school's production of the play, while attempting to avoid going down the same path as the play's lead character.[2]

Performance history in South Africa

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang_Bang_You%27re_Dead_(play)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang_Bang_You%27re_Dead_(film)

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