Foundations
Dramatic Idea: Betwixt is about reclaiming a memory from the recesses of your mind/consciousness and bringing it back into the light.
1) Betwixt shows that keeping your painful memories buried too long can ultimately destroy you.
2) Betwixt shows that you better claim your painful memories before it’s too late.
3) Betwixt shows that keeping your dark memories at bay may help you to avoid the pain but it also keeps you from having what you truly want.
Core Battle: The spiritual/emotional destruction wrought by keeping your inner demons locked away vs. the possible catharsis that comes when you risk enduring your deepest inner pain.
Central Question: “What happens when an emotionally blocked, all-star Vegas pimp reclaims the memory she has been avoiding all her life?”
Sammy’s Path of Dangerous Recommitment: Every step Sammy takes towards exploiting prostitute Tweet brings her closer to the revelation of her own tortured helplessness.
Sammy starts the movie as a woman in denial of her past and the pain that it has caused her. She has created a whole way of life based on not feeling that pain – Sammy remorselessly pimps out Tweet and unconsciously uses her as a way to be in control of the same kind of exploitation that she once endured. Sammy looks down on Tweet, and views herself as Tweet’s savior, and gets off on the false sense of power. Sammy is an underground Vegas institution, she has no room for love.
Sammy ends the movie in full acknowledgement of the deep pain of her past, how this past has affected her and perhaps in a place of readiness for wanting more. She ends the movie in appreciation of all Tweet has suffered at her own hands. she ends the movie in a place of feeling and with a capacity for love.
Structure:
Act I: Vegas pimp Sammy Fights to be in Control
Sammy has a good thing going as an all-star Vegas pimp who feels nothing for anyone but herself, simultaneously exploiting Tweet and viewing herself as Tweet’s savior.
Spike of Conflict: But Sammy’s lifestyle finally catches up with her when she gets busted for robbery and is put on probation that includes mandatory therapy.
Act II: Sammy is Torn Between Her Need for Control and Her Awakening Humanity
Sammy finds herself torn between the dawning light of consciousness provided by her new therapist, Dr. Price, and her stubborn need to stay in control at all costs.
On the one hand, Dr. Price helps Fancy to acknowledge a spiritual and emotional lacking, to begin acknowledging the trauma of her past and how it has affected her today; for the first time, Fancy allows herself to venture into an actual romantic (vulnerable) relationship with slumming movie star Aidan Crush; she also allows her relationship with Tweet to deepen into a place of greater humanity.
On the other hand, Sammy cannot resist staying in the racket (probation be damned), and creates an unholy business alliance with scummy drug peddlers Paul and Kristin. It’s her only way to stay connected to the underworld (no one else will touch Sammy with all the police heat on her), and it means heightened danger for both herself and Tweet. It’s a dangerous, high-risk operation but Sammy cannot help herself.
Spike of Conflict: This divide hits an impasse when Sammy can no longer take part in Tweet’s degradation. Sammy impulsively rescues Tweet from a particularly nasty job and, in doing so, incurs the lethal wrath of Paul and Kristin (and possibly others). of Sammy’s denial can go.