First performance 26 October 1983 Adaptations Pack of Lies (1987) | Playwright Hugh White | |
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Similar Hugh White plays, Other plays | ||
Pack of lies by hugh whitemore
Pack of Lies is a 1983 play by English writer Hugh Whitemore.
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The fascinating aspect of the play, not mentioned in this original account, is how spying on their neighbors/friends tore apart their own lives. Based on a true story, the plot centres on Bob and Barbara Jackson (in real life Bill and Ruth Search) and their teenage daughter Julie (in real life Gay Search, later a television reporter and newspaper journalist in the UK.) The Jacksons are friendly with their neighbours, Peter and Helen Kroger, until the couple is arrested and charged with espionage in 1961. It is revealed the Krogers actually are Morris and Lona Cohen, who during the 1950s and 1960s worked with fellow spy Gordon Lonsdale photographing and encoding as microdots various pieces of material which they then sent to their colleagues in Russia, as part of a Soviet espionage network known as the Portland Spy Ring that had penetrated Britain's Royal Navy.
The original West End production, starring Judi Dench and her husband, Michael Williams, as the Jacksons, opened on October 26, 1983 at the Lyric Theatre, where it ran for nearly a year. Dench won the Laurence Olivier Award as Best Actress for her performance.
After five previews, the Broadway production opened on February 7, 1985 at the Royale Theatre, where it ran for 120 performances. The cast included Rosemary Harris, George N. Martin, and Tracy Pollan as the Jacksons, Dana Ivey and Colin Fox as the Cohens, and Patrick McGoohan as Stewart. Both Harris and McGoohan were nominated for a Tony Award, and she won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play.
In 1987, Whitemore (under the name Ralph Gallup) adapted his play for an American television production starring Ellen Burstyn, Alan Bates, Teri Garr, and Daniel Benzali. It received three Emmy Award nominations, for Outstanding Drama/Comedy Special, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special (Burstyn), and Outstanding Writing in a Miniseries or a Special.