We decided that to make our piece original, and set it apart from the Roald Dahl story, Mary and Patrick Maloney's roles should be swapped. In our production, Mary Maloney is a strong female businesswoman. It is also insinuated throughout that she is actually gay.
Patrick Maloney is presented as a meek, spineless house husband, who adores and worships his wife. We are basing Patrick's character on Mark Gatiss' character, Alvin Steele from League of Gentlemen.
We have edited the grocers' scene from the original Roald Dahl piece. Instead, we decided that a shot of Patrick walking back to his house with a bag of groceries would be enough ti show that he left his house.
We added some dialogue between the two detectives standing outside the Maloneys' house, to further reinforce the idea that Mary and Patrick are completely mismatched.
We see a man (Patrick Maloney) waiting for his wife to get home. We hear a clock ticking, and then there is a sound bridge as we cut to the inside of the living room. There is a wide shot of the full living room where we see Patrick Maloney standing by the ironing board, ironing one of his wife's shirts. He hums to himself as he irons. There is a cut to black, and we hear the sound of vegetables being chopped which sound bridges into the scene. There is a close up of the clock- the ticking continues.
Suddenly, we hear the door open and shut abruptly. A woman (Mary Maloney) walks into the room, and Patrick rushes from the kitchen to take her coat from her. She is stiff at this point. A tracking shot follows Mary to her seat as Patrick walks out of the scene into the kitchen to get them each a drink. He asks her if she is tired from the other room. Mary answers dryly- "Exhausted"- as Patrick hands her her drink. Immediately, Mary downs her drink in one gulp and rises to get another, much to the surprise of her husband, who also jumps up. He tells her he'll get her another drink, but before he can take her glass she tells him to sit. Patrick slowly sits down, confused.
Mary leaves the room and we see a wide shot of Patrick sitting. Mary returns with her drink and sits opposite her husband, not looking at him. Patrick tells his wife that he is making lamb- her favourite dinner. When she doesn't answer him, he suggests making something else, or ordering in. Mary snaps at him, telling him to forget about the idea. In response, Patrick stands up. His wife tells him to sit as he asks her what's wrong.
Patrick sits down and we here Mary tell him she's been seeing someone else. Patrick zones out-depicted by the sound of tinnitus, and when he comes back he hears Mary shout 'And I fucking hate lamb!' Patrick, with a blank look on his face, says he'll make tea and returns to the kitchen.
Patrick sees a variety of potential murder weapons but eventually decides on the leg of lamb sitting on the sideboard. As Mary is putting her coat on, Patrick walks up behind her and hits her with the meat. She stumbles, and falls.
Cut to black for a few seconds, then we see Patrick walking towards his house with a bag of groceries. He returns home where he sets the bag down and phones the police.
The scene changes and we now see two detectives at Patrick's door. They have a short conversation about how oddly matched Patrick and Mary Maloney are as a couple.
There is a cut to black in which we hear a knock at the door. There is a sound bridge into the scene where Patrick is opening the front door to the detectives, to whom he explains that his wife is dead. The detectives question him about his whereabouts.
Each detective theorises about how Mary died. While they discuss this, Patrick asks them to stay for dinner. At first, they are reluctant, but then Patrick explains that Mary would want them to eat. They agree to stay.
We hear the detectives continue to discuss the situation as Patrick walks into the kitchen. Cut to Patrick who is in the kitchen preparing the food for the detectives. He brings them a plate stacked with lamb, potatoes and gravy each. They eat messily, still discussing the murder weapon. A tracking shot follows Patrick as he walks back to the kitchen. The film ends with a close up shot of Patrick, faintly smirking.
Below is an emaze outlining the target audience for our media product, Lamb to the Slaughter
