The Theatre Royal, Windsor – June/July 1986
Character: The Prosecutor
The Story
The action takes place in the living room of the Jamison’s townhouse in the East 60’s, New York
Act I
- Scene 1 – Sunday in late May
- Scene 2 – Night
Act II
- Scene 1 – Wednesday evening, twelve days earlier
- Scene 2 – Twelve days later on a Sunday afternoon
Arthur Jamison (William Franklyn) is a prominent attorney who has devised several ways to murder his irritating, blackmailing wife, Louise (Jan Holden), rather than risk going through a messy divorce from which she would benefit monetarily. He decides to invite a Prosecuting Attorney (Peter Wyngarde) of his acquaintance to join him and Louise for dinner, whereupon a mock courtroom is set up (with a portrait of Louise’s father acting as the judge!) through which he’s able to run through the scenarios he’s devised in his head, with the unwitting Prosecutor’s helping to spot any holes in the these schemes and plug them.
The plot thickens when Jackie Willis (Sue Holderness) – one of Arthur’s romantic dalliances – turns up unexpectedly at the Jamison’s apartment asking for a spare key to their neighbours flat as she’d been asked to tend to their plants while they’re away on vacation. As the story begins to unfold, it soon becomes apparent that Ms Willis is not merely an innocent bystander, but is actually one of the major players; both Arthur’s mistress and an abetter to Louise’s own plot to murder her husband.
The story now goes into numerous sub-plots concerning how the Jamison’s plan to murder each other and, just as importantly, how they plan to get away with it.
Some Background
‘Guilty Conscience’ was written by Richard Levinson and William Link – two American television producers and writers who collaborated for over 40 years, and who penned scripts for the feature films ‘The Hindenburg’ and ‘Rollercoaster’, and the television series, ‘Columbo’ and ‘Murder, She Wrote’. In the 1985 made-for-TV film, Anthony Hopkins took the part of Arthur Jamison, while the role of the Prosecuting Attorney did not exist – instead, Jamison’s sounding board was his own alter ego (or Conscience) which he named ‘Donegan Smith’.
After Thoughts
The play succeeds in its own ability to recognize its weaknesses. Unlike most stage mysteries where the audience is asked to ignore the plot holes and revel in the detective’s brilliance at spotting the clue and solving the crime, this play takes pride in pointing out its own holes as it goes along. As an audience participation spectacle, it was fun to play along, spotting the holes before the characters do. Fans of the genre would have no doubt remained intrigued and found the ending quite satisfying. The whole play came off much like the great Olivier and Caine character study in ‘Sleuth’ and those who have seen that particular film know what kind of a compliment that is.
Interview with Peter
The following is an interview with Peter that was published in the programme for the play
Appearing at Windsor again after the passage of many years is reminiscence time for Peter Wyngarde, who since his last performance here has been seen in the West End in many notable productions and during the 70s became a popular television figure through his dynamic performance as detective Jason King.
“I first came to Windsor,” he recollects nostalgically, “to play the tiny part of Oliver in a production of As You Like It. Heather Stannard, then a new and exciting discovery, was also in the cast and Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh came to see the play with a view to casting her in the production of Christopher Fry’s Venus Observed in the West End. The Olivier’s were my heroes. I worshiped them. How could I have them notice me? At the time Paul Schofield was the rising juvenile, so naturally I played Oliver like a demented Paul Schofield. Much later Sir Lawrence admitted that because of that excitable performance he thought I must have been the understudy.”
The lack of rapport with Peter’s idols was hardly improved when he played the young but incredibly poor Chinese pilot Yang-Sun in Brecht’s The Good Woman of Setzuan at the Royal Court Theatre. “The Olivier’s wanted to present a Giraudoux do play Duel of Angels in the West End and were in search of a leading man. George Devine said, “I think I found the right actor for you,” and invited them along to see my performance.
“Once again the Olivier’s were coming to see me perform and this time I hoped for a kind of reception. However, in the middle of a break in a Brechian song I was rendering, I looked up to see the two of them fast asleep in the circle. There was worse to come. As I was playing the derelict, without food, dressed in rags, I used to sit in a dustbin outside the theatre to get the feeling of the part. Vivien Leigh, whom I later discovered had a passion for cleanliness, was faced with this actor who not only stank but was being suggested as her leading man. At that precise moment I think if it had been up to them, I’d never have been allowed to walk on stage again. Luckily the French actor and director Jean-Louis Barrault, who had the final say, insisted on casting me. However, it took a long time before Vivien came near me on or off stage! We did finally become very close and I suppose she was really responsible for my future. So you say it all started at Windsor.”
Peter, who has worked with some of the other great names in English theatre, remembers one with particular affection… although initially she showed little desire to acknowledge his very existence. “It was sheer coincidence. I was looking for a cottage in Kent and found one which had been a weaver’s cottage in the remote village of Kildown. On the other side of the garden was a gatehouse, formally occupied by the head Weaver; a beautiful place far superior to mine and I was slow to discover that it was owned by the great lady of the stage, Dame Edith Evans. She however had quickly sussed out that her new neighbour was some itinerant thespian and strongly disapproved. I notice this head bobbing up and down on the other side of the hedge as she walked down the road pretending to post a letter in the box outside my cottage. In reality she was keeping a stern eye on my behaviour as I was inclined to sunbathe in the nude in my garden.
“It was only when we met in the television production of Christopher Fry’s The Dark Is Light Enough that she realised I was that dreaded nude actor living close by. I am glad to say that we soon became close friends and remain neighbours for the next eight years. Incidentally, she had never appeared on television before and used to ask me where the cameras were. “I don’t understand them,” she would say majestically. “Show me what to do.”
“As far as Jason King is concerned,” Peter says, “I think I learned a great deal, particularly about film acting. English actors then rarely got the chance to act in front of a camera the way they do nowadays and those four years were a tremendous advantage. The only disadvantage has been the association to public has with the character which they can never believe isn’t you. And somehow one can’t blame them because kind of acting is really a large part of oneself.”
PETER WYNGARDE: The Official Website 
2 thoughts on “REVIEW: Guilty Conscience”