MOBILE phones can’t help you in Wokingham Theatre’s latest thriller, of that you may be sure.
And audiences may well pat theirs gratefully as they watch Dead Guilty.
This psychological thriller, first performed in 1995, opens Wokingham Theatre’s new season of plays.
Filled with confusion and alarm, it’s driven by a continuing theme of deception by omission that makes it hard to know what’s real and what’s imaginary.
The story opens with designer Julia, a young woman struggling physically and mostly housebound, following a serious car accident.
Determined to keep working, though, she turns her conservatory into an art studio, and with support from her home help, a counsellor, and a new friend, continues taking commissions by phone.
But Julia finds being looked after difficult, and frankly, she’s not the easiest of patients to support.
And as time goes on, her relationships with her three helpers, Gary, Anne and Margaret, become strained by a series of strange and disconcerting changes that seem to be taking place inside her home.
Is she somehow being manipulated, or is she slowly losing her mind?
Director Chris Westgate said: “I hope people will enjoy feeling, as I did when I first read the play, that when they eventually realise what’s happening they are powerless to prevent it.”
The play has been set firmly in 1994, when working in isolation could be frightening in a time of crisis.
These days help can be summoned instantly, but then… well, let’s just say landline communication was less reliable.
“If each of these characters had a mobile phone the story just couldn’t work,” Chris explained.
“Today we can make a quick call if need be, or silently text for help.
“But being able to do so would completely change the course of this play, so it was essential to set it entirely within the world as it was in 1994.”
Locating the play so specifically has given the props, costume, design and construction teams an extra level of complexity to work with, but between them they have created an on-stage 1994 time-capsule that may flag up specific memories of the era for audience members.
“We’ve worked hard to make this a real environment, but ultimately, I want people to be so immersed in the story they forget they’re watching a play,” said Chris.
“The actors are fabulous bunch of people who have spent time exploring their characters deeply, in order to give our audiences an opportunity to come on a thrilling journey of deception with them.”
It goes without saying that mobiles will be switched off during the performance – but perhaps you’ll be even more glad you have one after seeing Dead Guilty.
The play will be performed at Wokingham Theatre, Cantley Park, from Wednesday, September 3 through to Saturday, September 13, with the exception of Sunday.
The bar is open each night from 7pm, with performances starting at 7.45pm.
Tickets cost £16, and are available from: wokinghamtheatre.org.uk
