A story of murder and intrigue, Guilty Conscience is performing at the Ottawa Little Theatre from Oct. 30–Nov. 16.
This thriller tells the story of a criminal attorney preparing for his own defence, as he plots the murder of his wife. Through this process, he discovers that someone is also plotting to kill him.
“It’s a very intriguing premise and it’s a difficult show to nail down to one genre,” says director of the show, Ian Gillies. “In a lot of ways it’s a suspense thriller, but there’s quite a lot of humour to it. And on top of that there’s this real sense of foreboding and violence — the show is very unexpected and take a lot of twists and turns.”
Scene from Guilty Conscience. Photo provided.
Gillies says that the best thing about the narrative elements of the thriller genre is that it keeps folks guessing. While Guilty Conscience presents as a courtroom drama, he says that these elements are there, but are flipped on their head.
This unexpected nature continues through the performance, and Gillies says that he finds that audiences often respond to characters they can relate to, but also characters who find satisfying conclusions.
“I think what audiences will enjoy is seeing intelligent characters, wrestle with the circumstances and really try to empathize with some of the characters,” he says. “They’ll also potentially get a kick out of seeing other characters get comeuppance.”
Scene from Guilty Conscience. Photo provided.
Gillies says that he’s most excited for audiences to experience some of the creative liberties he took in an effort to make the show more relatable. While the main character, Arthur, holds misogynistic views which informs his perspective on things, Gillies wanted to transform this into something that reflected more classic literature.
“I read the show very much as like a classic piece of literature, almost like a fable or a myth,” he says. “What I wanted to do was have the character of the prosecutor represented by three women and bring out this more classical mythology idea of poetic justice that’s forcing Arthur to confront what he fears most, which is women.”
Scene from Guilty Conscience. Photo provided.
While this work is dramatic in nature, there is also a note about more intense themes in the performance, such as domestic violence, violence against women, and mentions of suicide. It’s something that Gillies worked hard on with the cast and crew, and says it was front of mind when confronting the script.
“That was one of the things that really stood out for me, because it is a show that treats a very serious subject matter in a way that doesn’t really fit into one mould,” he says. “When we went into the rehearsal process, that’s something we were very aware of, and it meant that we took things slowly, checking the comfort levels of the different actors and everything.”
Scene from Guilty Conscience. Photo provided.
Speaking of the cast and crew, Gillies says that they were incredible to work with, and wanted to highlight that this group of individuals gave their all, especially as the Ottawa Little Theatre is volunteer based.
“When I say that we ask a lot of people, it’s really like, they’re coming in after work, they’re coming in after their day jobs to really put forward a great performance,” he says. “Every single person has risen to the occasion, and everybody consistently gives it their all — it’s an immense pleasure to be a part of it.”
Guilty Conscience is playing at the Ottawa Little Theatre from Oct. 30–Nov. 16. You can grab your tickets online, or by contacting the box office at 613-233-8948. For more information about the show, visit the Ottawa Little Theatre’s website. A note that this production includes mature themes, including depictions of domestic violence, violence against women, as well as discussion of suicide. Smoking, gun shots and loud noises are also present.
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