Hugh Whitemore's PACK OF LIES to Open at Barnstable Comedy Club

The Barnstable Comedy Club will present Hugh Whitemore's gripping moral drama, PACK OF LIES. The play is directed by James F. Ring of Barnstable Village and is being presented as part of the Club's celebration of its Hundred-Year Anniversary Season.

The Barnstable Comedy Club will stage the show at The Village Hall, 3171 Main Street (Route 6A), Barnstable, MA 02630. The show opens on Thursday, March 3 at 7:30 PM and continues through March 20 on Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 PM, with Sunday matinees at 2:30 PM. General admission tickets are $25. Tickets for seniors (65+) and students are $23. Tickets can be reserved by calling the box office at 508-362-6333. Proof of vaccination is required and facial masks must be worn during the performance. Additional information is available via the Barnstable Comedy Club's website.

Based upon real-world events that unfolded in suburban London during the notorious "Portland Spy Ring" case at the height of the Cold War, the play tells the story of a middle-class English family, the Jacksons, who get caught up in a high-stakes counterintelligence operation involving their cherished friends and neighbors from across the street. Are their neighbors, Helen and Peter Kroger, simply a somewhat crass and unconventional but deeply warm-hearted Canadian couple, as the Jacksons have come to know them over the years?

Or are they, as British intelligence agents come to suspect, a pair of highly-effective American-born Soviet spies who have been stealing atomic secrets and eluding capture for decades? Who should the Jacksons trust, and who should they betray: their longtime friends and neighbors, or the increasingly manipulative government agents who insinuate themselves into the Jackson family's lives?

As was noted by New York Times critic Frank Rich when the prize-winning play was first performed in New York in 1985: "What Mr. Whitemore does is allow some terrific actors the opportunity to shine in the sweat generated by their characters' many betrayals." Not surprisingly then, many of Cape Cod's finest actors found themselves drawn to this production. Bob and Barbara Jackson are played, respectively, by Rick Martin of Mashpee and Miranda Daniloff Mancusi of Barnstable Village.

Their daughter Julie is played by Alessandra Scibelli, also of Barnstable Village. Helen and Peter Kroger are played by Janet Geist Moore of Sandwich and Stuard M. Derrick of Provincetown. The British Intelligence Officer (Inspector Stewart) is played by Bob Shire of Orleans, his assistant Thelma is played by Kelly Kean of Cummaquid, and their colleague Sally is played by Missy Potash of West Barnstable.

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