HALLIWELL   And don’t write it down.

ORTON   It’s only my diary. Do you read it?

HALLIWELL   I’ve told you. No.

ORTON   My mum did. I used to have to put the dirty bits in shorthand. Only time it’s been of any use.

INT. PEGGY RAMSAY’S OFFICE. DAY. THE PRESENT.

Peggy is on the phone.

PEGGY   I’m sorry, I can’t help you. My secretary does shorthand, but I’m on my own here.
Her secretary puts some papers on her desk.
You’ll just have to use your imagination.

INT. LAHRS’ FLAT. DAY. THE PRESENT.

Anthea puts the phone down. Her Mother is in the flat.

ANTHEA   Mother, didn’t you once do shorthand?

MOTHER   Yes, for about five minutes.

ANTHEA   It’s this playwright John is writing about. He went to secretarial school as a boy and took shorthand. This is his diary.
Anthea shows it to her Mother.
He keeps going into shorthand, you see.

MOTHER   Yes. It was a long time ago, dear. I never got the diploma. (She studies the text.)

ANTHEA   ‘Woke up late. Did not go to school. Told Mum I felt sick. When she had gone to work I listened to Housewives’ Choice.’

MOTHER   ‘… then went into Mum’s bedroom and arranged her dressing-table mirrors and … had a lovely long slow … wink.’

ANTHEA   Wink? Are you sure that’s an ‘i’?

MOTHER   No, dear. I’m not sure at all … ‘Read all morning, but got another hard-on. Just putting soap on it when Mum came in. Said I thought I had a spot coming. Mum quiet all through meal.’ I should think so. Do they go on like this?

ANTHEA   No. The early ones stop just when his life got interesting.

MOTHER   Sounds quite interesting already. Where’s John?

ANTHEA   Gone to Leicester to see the sister …

EXT. FAYHURST ROAD, LEICESTER. DAY. THE PRESENT.

Lahr walks towards a house on a poor council estate.

ANTHEA   (voice-over) … to look at the house where Joe was brought up.
An Asian woman comes out.

LAHR   Hello. Was this the Orton house?
She doesn’t understand. An old woman next door watches. Lahr walks away.

OLD WOMAN   Ask me, young man. I’m English. Ask me.

INT. LEONIE ORTON’S SITTING ROOM. DAY. THE PRESENT.

Comfortable sitting room. Some books. Pictures of Orton.

LEONIE   I hated that house. There was no love in it. No wonder he couldn’t wait to get out. In those days if you wanted to be an actor and you were from Leicester you had to get rid of your accent. Not that Mum knew about the acting. She just wanted John to talk posh.

LAHR   You still call him John?

LEONIE   (out of vision) That was his name when we were little.
It was after he was famous he was Joe.

EXT. MADAM LAMBERT’S HOUSE. DAY. 1950.