More information about

DOG EAT DOG

MAIN POINT
This sketch sneaks up on you. It starts midway through a conversation and the audience has to listen carefully to put the pieces together. It isn't long before they figure out that Steve has been passed over for a promotion. Then they see his angry frustration and desire for revenge. Michael, here, is the wolf in sheep's clothing. He starts with platitudes about what's right and wrong, causing the audience to categorize him as a good person. They assume, then, that the issue between them will be whether or not to do the "bad" thing.

The shocker is Michael's admission that he leaked the confidential information. Suddenly the "good" person is revealed as bad, and all of us are revealed with him. Appearances can be deceiving. The best of friends can turn on us.

CHARACTERIZATION
Steve is the victim here. Play him fairly straight with a good deal of emotion. He must feel the anger to pull off this part. Slamming things around would be a natural outlet. Although Michael looks good through most of the sketch, a second reading of his lines will betray progressing anxiety. He needs to communicate that nervousness so that even as he's saying the moral platitudes, he's distracted by his own betrayal. Steve, and the audience, probably won't notice it. But Michael still needs to feel it.

DIRECTOR'S NOTES
1) Set this up with some room for Steve to roam. He's very angry and needs to have enough props to bang around and enough space to vent. Michael is basically following him, trying to calm him down. The intensity needs to build to a face-to-face showdown at the end.

2) Don't be afraid to have physical contact between the two: brushoffs or even a small shove.

3) Since the script leaves them at this point of betrayal, make sure the lights are killed quickly. Don't leave them in this awkwardness with no lines to help them.

RELATED SCRIPTURES
There's a classic passage about a friend's betrayal in Psalm 55 that would tie in nicely. Proverbs has a lot to say about the value of friendship. Try Proverbs 17:17 for a start. Ecclesiastes 4 is also helpful and Romans 12:19 will serve if you take the revenge angle.

RELATED THEMES
You can stretch this several directions without losing the central theme. It would fit in a message on friendship, or revenge, or competition, or deceit, or the whole theme of outward appearance. You could even tie in success or business ethics, or workplace stress.