New Forest Players present Hugh Whitmore’s Pack of Lies based on the Portland Spy Ring
New Forest Players brought a shiver of concern to Ballard School’s stage when they presented Hugh Whitmore’s Pack of Lies, a true story of the Portland Spy Ring adapted in 1983 from his 1971 BBC Play for Today.
The play centres on Barbara and Bob Jackson, a middle-aged English couple from Ruislip who, with their daughter Julie, share a close friendship with their Canadian neighbours, Helen and Peter Kroger. However their ordinary lives are turned upside down when a British intelligence agent, Miss Stewart, asks to use their home as a base to watch for a mysterious man visiting the neighbours across the road.
The MI5 agent discreetly observes the sinister activities taking place behind the Krogers’ front door. The presence of the agents in their house and realisation of the neighbours’ true purposes place great strain upon the Jacksons, whose lives are never the same again.
This was an attempt to thwart a Soviet spy ring operating in the area during the autumn and winter of 1960-1961. Loyalty, duty, and friendship collide as the Jacksons slowly discover that their cherished friends are actually American KGB spies.
Paul Berry played the bewildered Bob Jackson trying to steady his wife and daughter. Judy Anders was superb as Barbara Jackson, torn between her promise to keep mum and her guilt at lying to her good friend. Her breakdown scene in the kitchen was amazingly realistic.
Maddie Beard was splendid as Julie, the rebellious schoolgirl doting on her generous neighbours who is devastated when she learns the truth.
Dawn Cresswell and David Luker as Helen and Peter Kroger maintained very good North Atlantic accents throughout. Helen passes off as a vivacious, warm-hearted woman full of fun while Peter is a genial book dealer - perfectly ordinary people, it would appear.
Julie Lax was blunt and ‘schoolmarmish’ as the Secret Service agent, who speaks quite sharply and distinctly when issuing her directives. Tina Fagan and Debbie Jetten sympathetically played Thelma and Sally, spending all day upstairs watching the Krogers’ house.
The excellent stage, featuring the Jacksons’ lounge, kitchen and hallway, set the scene well, and interspersed 1950s music put the final touch to a remarkable production brilliantly directed by Lyn Lockyer.
At the heart of the play lies the dilemma of whether or not personal bonds between friends are or should be stronger than bonds with the state. Spies in sleepy suburbia? Sadly, it was all true.
Alison Smith
