This article is about the play. For the children's book by Geraldine McCaughrean, see A Pack of Lies.
Pack of Lies is a 1983 play by English writer Hugh Whitemore, itself adapted from his Act of Betrayal, an episode of the BBC anthology series Play of the Month transmitted in 1971.[1][2]
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 are 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 which had penetrated Britain's Royal Navy.
In 1987, Whitemore wrote a draft of an adaptation of his play for an American television production on Hallmark Hall of Fame on CBS.[7] He departed the production and the shooting script was written by Jeffrey Sweet who was billed as "creative consultant." Whitemore was unhappy with this version and exercised the right to have the script credited to a pseudonym, Ralph Gallup. Directed by Anthony Page, the acclaimed film starred Ellen Burstyn, Alan Bates, Teri Garr, and Daniel Benzali.[8] 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.[9]
Cesear's Forum, Cleveland's minimalist theatre company, presented the play at Kennedy's Down Under, Playhouse Square in a November/December 2006 production. The cast: Julia Kolibab, Paul Floriano, Juliette Regnier. The ensemble also included Mary Alice Beck, Steven Hoffman, Tom Jessup, Alanna Romansky and Jennifer Mae Hoffman.[10]
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Pack_of_Lies, and is written by contributors.
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