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[[File:slings_and_arrows_1836.jpg|frame|Please shut up, [[Spirit Advisor]].]]
'''''Slings
▲''Slings and Arrows'' is a Canadian dark comedy about the New Burbage Festival, a thinly-veiled [[Fictional Counterpart]] of the Stratford Festival of Canada. It focuses on Geoffrey Tennant's return to the festival as artistic director upon the death of his estranged mentor, Oliver Welles (who immediately returns as a ghost visible only to Geoffrey). Each season is a [[Story Arc]], focusing on Geoffrey's production of a great [[Shakespeare|Shakespearean]] tragedy: the first season does ''[[Hamlet]]'', the second ''[[Macbeth]]'' with a subplot about ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'', and the third ''[[King Lear]]''.
'''Characters''':
* '''Geoffrey Tennant''', the artistic director of the festival and archetypical [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]]. Played by Paul Gross, of ''[[Due South]]'' fame.
* '''Ellen Fanshaw''', the aging leading woman and Geoffrey's on-again-off-again love interest. If you take a shot every time she insincerely says "sorry," you'll be dead before the end of the episode. Played by Martha Burns.
* '''Richard Smith-Jones''', executive (business) director who nurtures a secret love of musicals. Played by ''[[The Kids in The Hall]]''{{'}}s Mark McKinney.
* '''Oliver Welles''', ghost, [[Spirit Advisor]], and [[Foil]] to Geoffrey. Played by Steven Ouimette.
* '''Anna Conroy''', <s>secretary</s> associate administrative director and frequent doormat. Played by Susan Coyne.
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Affably Evil]]: Sanjay isn't evil, per se, but he is a con man, and incredibly charming.
* [[Ambiguously Gay]]: Darren Nichols is as camp as camp can be, but his sexuality just never comes up. Notable in that it's not played for laughs beyond his character being generally ridiculous, and there's no speculation as to which way he swings by any of the other characters.
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** After cavorting with the musical theater company in Season 3, Richard wakes up next to one of the actresses... and the male writer.
* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: In the Season 3 finale, {{spoiler|Charles finally gets to be a stellar King Lear, Sophie and Paul get together, and Geoffrey and Ellen get married, but Charles dies, Geoffrey resigns from the festival, Richard relapses into a soulless corporate executive, Darren gets appointed artistic director, Anna is fired, and Geoffrey tells Oliver he loves him only after Oliver has disappeared for good}}. It ''redefines'' this trope.
* [[Book Ends]]: The first season gradually reveals the events that led Geoffrey to a nervous breakdown onstage 7 years earlier, ending his acting career. In the final episode of the series, {{spoiler|circumstances force him to take part in the rump production of King Lear. Oliver coaches him through his initial floundering and he is able to play his part}}.
* [[Brick Joke]]: In Season 1, {{spoiler|Oliver's skull. It's a topic in episode 2 and the beginning of episode 3, and then is forgotten by viewers and by Geoffrey himself until Oliver reminds him at the last possible moment on opening night.}}
* [[British Brevity]]: Actually ''Canadian Conciseness'', but the effect is the same: Each season is only 6 episodes long.
* [[British English]]: Frank and Cyril. "Fancy a pint, duckie?" (Remember that besides being [[Those Two Guys]], they have [[Ear Worm|the opening]] to themselves.)
* [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]]:
** Geoffrey.
** The advertising firm Froghammer appears to be this way, using nigh-incomprehensible postmodern tactics to build up interest in the festival. It's later subverted when {{spoiler|it's revealed that they were scam artists from the beginning, but luckily their phoney tactics actually ''work''.}}
* [[Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie]]: Oliver wanted his skull to be used for productions of ''[[Hamlet]].'' Almost no one wanted to fulfill that request for some reason.
* [[But Now I Must Go]]: Oliver in the final episode.
* [[Butt Monkey]]:
** Jerry, the understudy. Though he gets a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] / [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]] in the second to last episode of Season 2, where he gives a kick-ass performance as [[Macbeth]].
** Richard is used by everybody and is barely effectual at best.
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** Season 3: ''[[King Lear]]'' - rivalry, {{spoiler|death}}.
* [[Comedic Sociopathy]]
* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]
** Richard is not so much corrupt as commodity-minded rather than art-minded, but that kinda comes with the territory. First, he rises above this corruption, only to eventually fall from grace into a deeper level of corruption.
** Even more so, Holly Day.
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** "I want a thrust in the Rose."
* [[Dream Sequence]]
* [[Enforced Method Acting]]: An in-universe example. After rehiring Henry Breedlove for the role of Macbeth, Geoffrey feels the need to use this when Henry defies his direction.
* [[Face Heel Turn]]: {{spoiler|Richard in the last episode}}.
* [[Fake American]]: All of the American characters are played by Canadians.
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* [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope]]
* [[Leitmotif]]: Several, particularly ones for Geoffrey's madness/creativity and final performances.
* [[Literary Allusion Title]]
* [[Looking for Love In All the Wrong Places]]: Ellen.
* [[Love Triangle]]: Several examples.
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* [[Multitasked Conversation]]: Geoffrey, Oliver, and whoever else is around. Constantly.
* Nepotism: Claire is the relation of "some chairman," and so her atrocious acting runs unchecked.
* [[Nobody Over 50 Is Gay]]: Strongly averted, by Frank and Cyril as well as Oliver (who is in his [[Literal
* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]:
** In Season 1, Jack Crew's storyline is loosely based on [[Keanu Reeves]]' infamous [[Hamlet]].
** In Season 2, Henry Breedlove is clearly meant to resemble [[Kenneth Branagh|another hugely successful, talented, and rather egotistical Shakespearean actor]].
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* [[The Reveal]]: The cause of Geoffrey's nervous breakdown and his falling out with Oliver and Ellen. ( {{spoiler|Oliver had sex with Ellen.}})
* [[Rhetorical Question Blunder]]:
{{quote|
'''Richard''': GARBAGE! GARBAGE! I want GARBAGE! }}
:: and
{{quote|
'''Geoffrey''': Yes! Now! Please! }}
* [[The Scottish Trope]]: Season 2.
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* [[Show Within a Show]]: Much of the action revolves around the production of plays in the New Burbage Theater.
* [[Sickeningly Sweethearts]]: Two of the interns in Season Two.
* [[
* [[Slap Slap Kiss]]
* [[Smug Snake]]: Henry Breedlove, a complete and utter asshole of a pretentious actor who absolutely refuses to take direction.
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* [[Viewers Are Geniuses]]: You ''can'' watch this show knowing nothing about Shakespeare or theater, but you'll miss a hell of a lot.
* [[Vomit Discretion Shot]]
* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]
** Or the Theatre sans Argent? {{spoiler|After resigning from the company, Geoffrey mentions in his final "talk with Oliver" that he planned on starting it up again.}}
** Equally, what happens to May? {{spoiler|Is she dead or still in a coma or what?}}
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Canadian Series]]
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Series]]
[[Category:Work Com]]
▲[[Category:Slings and Arrows]]
[[Category:TV Series]]
[[Category:Live-Action TV of the 2000s]]
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