Character Development for Lamb to the Slaughter and Script

Character Development:

Mary Maloney: My character

Mary Maloney has many dimensions to her. In the first seen with her husband, she has to stay calm and collected. However, at the same time she has to react to the husband wanting a divorce, which is her motivation for killing him. Therefore, I need to play her with a mixed sense of emotions and oblivion. When she kills her husband, she has to seem very calm, to the point where it is creepy. It is almost like she didn’t realize what she has actually done. I have to be close to the police officers, and talk to them like they are my close friends, because they knew Patrick (the husband) well. Therefore, they would be able to see through her if she was frantic and pancy. Instead, I have to be sad, but not to the point where they realize what she has done. She has to act as though she is not suspicious of the crime that she has committed. I have to be sweet and innocent, and then they will never know it was me.

Mary has close relationships with everyone that is on stage. So, she has to act calm and collected with everyone. She can’t act differently than she normally does, because they would see right through her lies. When playing her I have to have a middle ground for emotions.

Mary is a middle aged women who is pregnant with a child. She has to look worn down from all the work she has done around the house, but at the same time she is put together.  She looks like a typical housewife, and stay at home mom. She would wear a pink dress with a white apron and heels. The hair would be put up into a tight bun, it has to look very stereotypical.

Staging First Draft:

Script:

LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER by ROALD DAHL

Scene 1:

MARY is in the living room, she is pacing around the room. She seems anxious like she is waiting for something. The door opens.

MARY: Hello, darling

PATRICK: Hello

Mary takes Patrick’s coat from him and hangs it up. She brings 2 cups of alcohol, one for her and one for Patrick.

MARY: Tired, darling?

PATRICK: Yes [sighs] I'm thoroughly exhausted.

Patrick drinks the entire cup of alcohol and gets up to exit upstage into “ Kitchen”

MARY:  I'll get it! [jumping up]

PATRICK: Sit down.

Patrick enters from upstage with a cup and a bottle of alcohol. He pours it all the way to the top.

Mary sighs

MARY: I think it's a shame that when someone's been a policeman as long as you have, he still has to walk around all day long [he doesn’t answer] Darling, If you're too tired to eat out tonight, as we had planned, I can fix you something. There's plenty of meat and stuff in the freezer. [she forces a smile, he doesn’t react] Anyway I’ll get you some bread and cheese."

PATRICK: I don't want it.

[She moved uneasily in her chair]

MARY: But you have to have supper. I can easily fix you something. I'd like to do it. We can have Lamb. Anything you want. Everything's in the freezer.

PATRICK: Forget it

MARY: But, darling, you have to eat! I'll do it anyway, and then you can have it or not, as you like. [stands up and places sewing on table]

PATRICK: Sit down, Just for a minute, sit down. [pause] Go on, sit down.

[MARY sits watching him all the time with large, puzzled eyes, he  finishes his second drink stares into the glass]

Listen … I've got something to tell you

MARY: What is it, darling? What's the matter?

Patrick stays motionless and does not make eye contact with Mary

PATRICK: This is going to be a big shock to you, I'm afraid. But I've thought about it a good deal and I've decided that the only thing to do is to tell you immediately. [pauses]  I think that I need some time and distance to myself..

MARY: That's fine dear are you thinking of a vacation for us?

PATRICK: Yeahhh... more of a vacation for me.. Permanently

MARY: What? ..What are you saying…? [In a sad voice]

PATRICK: I'm a rolling stone Mary, that's just how it is.. I met a girl at the casino last Month we’re eloping

MARY: I… I don't know what to say..Patrick. Please tell me this is a joke

PATRICK: No, Mary.. I've simply outgrown you, I'll be packing my bags tonight.. I'll be gone by the morning.

MARY: Patrick..

PATRICK: I did us the favor of going to the town hall and getting the divorce papers..  [hands Mary the papers and Mary ignores them] So there it is. And I know it's a tough time to be telling you this, but there simply wasn't any other way. Of course, I'll give you money and see that you and the baby are taken care of. But there really shouldn't be any problem. I hope not, in any case. It wouldn't be very good for my job.

MARY stays silent for a minute, a look of confusion washes over her face. She gets up and acts as though nothing happened.

MARY: I'll fix some supper [happy]

MARY exits upstage

PATRICK: I've already told you.  Don't make supper for me. I'm going out.

PATRICK:    Well that was weird, well anyways I can't wait to Shelly tomorrow, she makes me forget all about this boring old witch. I don't know how I'm going to see the baby, but whatever the money should take care of that.

MARY comes behind PATRICK and swings a leg of lamb, she hits him with it and he falls to the ground dead.

MARY: I have a baby coming, he deserved it. I mean he wasn't going to take care of us with another girl around. What was he thinking? Another women in this child's life? No that can't happen, I'm the only mother. There is not going to be a stepmother or whatever other mother. It's me just me. [pauses]. Wait… I can't go to jail for this. Can I? He technically forced me to kill him. He was practically asking for it. I have to protect this baby, and I think I might have the perfect idea.

Practices to herself

MARY: Hello, Sam [speaks loud and strangely] I want some potatoes, Sam. Yes, and perhaps a can of beans. [Not happy with how she sais it she tries again] Hello, Sam I want some potatoes, Sam. Yes, and perhaps a can of beans. [gives her reflection a nod, EXITS]

Scene 2- Grocery Store

[ENTER Sam and Mary]

MARY: Hello, Sam [smiling]

SAM: Good evening, Mrs. Maloney. How are you?

MARY: I want some potatoes, please, Sam. Yes, and perhaps a can of beans, too. Patrick's decided he's tired and he doesn't want to eat out tonight. We usually go out on Thursdays, you know, and now I don't have any vegetables in the house.

SAM: Then how about some meat, Mrs. Maloney?

MARY: No, I've got meat, thanks, I've got a nice leg of lamb, from the freezer.

SAM: Do you want these potatoes, Mrs. Maloney?

MARY: Oh, yes, they'll be fine. Two pounds, please.

SAM: Anything else? [pause] How about dessert? What are you going to give him for dessert?  How about a nice piece of cake? I know he likes cake.

MARY: Perfect. He loves it.

[Sam brings stuff and puts it in bags]

MARY: Thank you, Sam. Good night.

Blackout

[MARY enters the kitchen by the back door, quietly singing to herself]

MARY: [calls out] Patrick! How are you, darling?

MARY  sees that Patrick is dead, she runs into the living room and drops the groceries on the ground.  She runs over to him and drops to her knees.

MARY goes over to the phone and dials a number

MARY: Quick! Come quickly! Patrick's dead.

POLICE: Who's speaking?

MARY: Mrs. Maloney. Mrs. Patrick Maloney.

POLICE: Do you mean that Patrick's dead?

MARY: I think so, He's lying on the floor and I think he's dead. [crying]

POLICE: We'll be there immediately.

Scene 3:

Sirens go off and a knock is heard at the door. MARY opens the door and four policemen walk through the door. They all crowded around the dead body.

MARY: Is he dead? [crying]

JACK: I'm afraid he is. What happened?

MARY: I really loved him…..

ALLAN: There is evidence of trauma to the--

BOB: The frontal lobe!

ALLAN: There must be trauma to your frontal lobe.

Jack is pacing and MARY is sitting on the couch in front of him. BOB and ALLAN are fighting but you can't hear anything.

JACK: Dammit.

MARY: Who would have done such a terrible thing?

BOB: He was clearly shot

ALLAN: Thank god! You might be right for once!

Start to look for bullet wound.

MARY: What am I going to do with the child now?

JACK: You don't need to worry. You have all of us. [gestures to ALLAN and BOB]

BOB: We can't find the hole!

ALLAN: Well if you weren’t such a dumbass!

BOB: Well you find it then.

ALLAN: I just did.

BOB: That's not a hole.

ALLAN: You’re blind!

BOB: Idiot!

JACK walks over to BOB, ALLAN, AND PATRICK’s body.

JACK: You’re both idiots!

ALLAN and BOB: How?

JACK: It was obviously not a gun shot.  It's not a deep enough wound.  Blood doesn't automatically mean there is a gun wound.

MARY starts crying loudly.

JACK: Mary, calm down.  We will solve this.  Did you know that your oven is still on, and the meat is still inside?

MARY: Oh, So it is! I'd better turn it off [EXITS returns shortly after in tears] Would you do me a favor? Here you all are, all good friends of Patrick's, and you're helping to catch the man who killed him. You must be very hungry by now because it's long past your supper time, and I know that Patrick would never forgive me if I let you stay in the house without offering you anything to eat. Why don't you eat up the lamb in the oven?

JACK: I wouldn't dream of it.

MARY: Please, personally, I couldn't eat a thing, but it'd be a favor to me if you ate it up. Then you can go on with your work

The detectives hesitate but eventually follow MARY off stage.

Black out

Scene 4:  Eating the Lamb

BOB: Have some more, Allan.

JACK: No, we'd better not finish it.

ALLAN: She wants us to finish it. She said we ought to eat it up.

JACK: That's a big bar the murderer must have used to hit poor Patrick. The doctor says the back of his head was broken to pieces.

ALLAN: That's why the weapon should be easy to find.

BOB: Exactly what I said.

JACK: Whoever did it, he can't carry a weapon that big around with him.

ALLAN: Personally, I think the weapon is somewhere near the house.

BOB: It's probably right under our noses. What do you think, Jack?

Blackout

Stage Diagram for Lamb to the Slaughter

Living Room (Scene 1)

Grocery Store (Scene 2) Stage right is a counter where Sam the grocery man will stand. On the bottom is a box with Mary's fruit.

Living Room/ Detective Investigation: Stage right Mary will be sitting on the sofa and Jack will be pacing behind her. Stage left Bob and Allen will be investigating dead body in front of the table.

Kitchen scene: Detectives sitting around table well Mary serves them. 

The Tell Tale Heart

    For my final project, I want to do an adaptation of "The Tell Tale Heart," by Edgar Allen Poe. This is a short story about a man who killed an old man, because he believed his eye was evil. At the end of the short story, the killer thinks he hears the mans heart beat through the floor boards, so he tells the cops what he did. I would need 4 characters: 2 cops, the killer, and the old man. For this adaptation I would focus first on the killer and the old man. I would show their relationship to each other. The killer, which is not yet known to the audience will be extremely nice to the old man. This will make everything creepier and darker. The killer would also have internal monologues, where he explain why he would want to kill the old man (the creepy and evil eye.)  In order to show this I would dim the lights on the stage and have a spotlight on the killer. So, the audience will be able to see both sides of him: nice and evil.
 
     Later in the play I would show the killer killing the man, and putting him under an object. After the man is dead I would have the cops come in the house. I would then use the sound affect of a heart beat, which only the killer would be able to hear. During this scene the cops will be the only ones talking. The killer will just have facial expressions, and freaking out to the sound affect.

   The props needed would be simple. A couple of couches for the people to sit on and talk. This is where the killer would talk to the cops, and the old man. I would also need a dresser like object in the side to put the man into. This is where mostly everything would be going on. I think by making the staging simpler, the affect will be more dramatic and therefore leading to a more eerie feel to the play.

    This adaptation would be a fun thing to do, because it is different and mysterious. For the recent plays we have done whimsical, and out of the ordinary things. However, this requires people to be more serious and less comical.  So, we would have to learn to use different emotions, and to portray different kinds of characters that we have not done before. Also, this play requires a lot of expression. For example, the killer will not have as many lines when the cops are there, but you would have to see the fear in his face when he hears the sound of the mans heart. In the other plays we did, it was the lines and actions that made it comical or got the mood across to the audience. However, a large aspect of this is the facial expression, because they set the tone for the whole play. Overall, I think this would be a different and innovative project.

How Did I Do On My IB Exams?

  Overall, I think that I did well on my exams. I had room to improve in some areas, and wish that I could have expanded in other areas of my work. For the first exam, I got the exact question that I answered in class, so it was a bonus. I already knew what scenes I wanted to do and how I wanted to stage them. I think I could have wrote some more detail about how I wanted to make the scene look, but I still justified everything that I staged. I think that made up for the little pieces I missed. I felt like my analysis was really strong, and I think that my staging was different. In the end, I felt okay about this exam.
    The second exam (poetry) time flew by. In the first exam, I felt like I timed myself well and I made time to write about details. In the second exam, I figured I would end with enough time to check my work. Instead, I looked up and 45 minutes had gone by and I just finished my first poet. So, I still had 45 minutes for the other poet. Even though I was rushed towards the end, I still felt like I analyzed the poems fairly well. There was some parts that I wished I could have clarified a little more, but I was crunched for time. However, in the exam I realized new things about the poem that I hadn't realized before.
      When going into the exams, I thought that I was more prepared for the first exam about the "Whale Rider." I felt as though I knew everything I could know for the book. However, after taking the exams, I found I had more to write about for the second exam on poetry. I wrote a lot more for the poetry then I did for the "Whale Rider." I am not sure why this happened, but all together I think I did okay.

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