Being cut out hasn't been a bad thing for Donnie but this party doesn't seem right. He's got all the responsibility for a birthday that's also the meet-up to settle 'The Jimmy Situation.' Jimmy De Luca, fist-happy pimp and family under boss, whacked on a freezing January night but nobody know who did it. Donnie knows the situation. It was his mother who looked after Jimmy's girls every night but he realizes the suspicions are in place against him. As Frankie and Johnny inadvertently give away their plans Donnie finds himself counteracting with meticulous organization of his own. Never given credit for his years in the background crossing the double cross is a game of wits for Donnie. He knows the guys better than they know themselves but he knows he only has one chance; kill or be killed.

What You See Is What You Get is a twist on a familiar crime genre. Originally presented in the 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe as the stage play 'The Tears Of A Clown', WYSIWIG develops a rich tapestry of characters and unveils a complex plot that takes us on the journey of street punk Donnie DiMaggio. Never one to fit in, Donnie has lived a life on the Fringe of crime. Desperate to realise his ambition as a legitimate entertainer, Donnie struggles to make an impact in a world where he has few contacts outside his criminal connections. Always able to make the best of bad scenarios, Donnie learns at a young age how to squeeze legitimate money from his so called friends. Beginning with a clown routine that raises more revenue in cancellation fees than performances the foundations are laid for money making schemes that keep Donnie afloat.

Gagster or gangster? Perhaps the reality is neither but after years of scraping by incarceration looms as he finds himself the victim of Johnny Remo's cunning.
In too deep on a deal he can't get out of, Johnny gives Donnie's long term girlfriend a list to use if ever she gets busted. Ruth Schrader, a junkie with a growing habit, hooking up with Johnny just to pay for her addiction is the root of Donnie's downfall. In the end it's a list of every piece of unsolved criminal activity Johnny knows about that puts Donnie through the courts and it's Ruth who puts him there. What should have been the best night of their lives - audience tickets for the Flip Wilson special and aftershow party at the NBC Studios - ends up as a bust as Ruth gets picked up on a trumped up misdeameanor.As the hours of interrogation passes, Ruth walks away and Donnie walks into trouble.No one will even vouch for him, not even his mother. The only person he has is his Lawyer, who believes something is genuinely amiss. Plead guilty and he'll be out in six to eight is the best defence she can run with. Donnie might be a difficult client but he's happy to play along, after all there is a reason why nobody can vouch for him.

Donnie killed Jimmy De Luca. Frustrated with the drop-in hospital his mother's house had become for the local working girls Donnie thought he was quietly whacking a violent pimp, not the underboss of the Fredonna crime family. Donnie's tragic mistake. Giving his mother Jimmy's money. Used to reignite a morphine addiction that spirals out of control in months, it's his own mother who betrays Donnie to Frankie for the sake of a twenty-buck hit. Donnie knows nothing of his mother's confession until Frankie invites him to provide the entertainment for his son Paulie's eighteenth birthday party. This is the second opportunity Donnie's ever had to impress Frankie but as the arrangements progress nothing quite fits and why now, eight years after that dumb clown routine for Paulie's tenth birthday. Johnny and Tony C conspire to give Donnie the briefest clues as to what might be happening come party night. Insisting he change the act for the sake of Paulie's birthday wishes doesn't make sense. Paulie is the most immature kid Donnie knows and suddenly he wants a stripper called Laura Denny.

As the party gets closer every section of the plan is counteracted by Donnie with ingenuity and a pay off. To the guys, nothing is amiss, Johnny and Frankie know what they have to do whilst Tony C on the door is a happy man who's already got lucky with the stripper. It's gonna be a good party once Donnie is out of the way but the guys have overlooked Donnie for a lifetime. He's a schmuck, why would he do anything different now? For Donnie, right down to the awkward stools and cramped tables the guys have to sit at, every part of the night is covered and just to give the guys one final laugh he's putting on the same clown costume he wore for Paulie's tenth birthday....

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