A Bad Time For the Truth

The title says it all: In Hugh Whitemore’s “Pack of Lies,” everyone has reason to skirt the truth. Not sensible reasons, nor lofty reasons nor even pernicious reasons. But lies lead the way because truth is hard. This Cold-War tale, set in 1961 and written a couple of decades later, involves spies who do not own up to the role, and patriots who cannot take on their role without destroying friends. The action takes place in the Jacksons’ home in a London suburb, a tidy spot with clipped hedges, inherited antiques and no central heating. Barbara Jackson (Johnna Murray) suffused with middle-class politeness, is a dowdy, tweed-wearing Brit who fusses about her mate, Bob (an aeronautics executive who tucks his tie into his belt, nicely played by Mike Sanders), and their teenage daughter Julie (ChristineLee Mackerer). Their best friends, the Krogers, Helen and Peter, a Canadian couple, live nearby and visit frequently. Then the mysterious Stewart (Glenn Barrett)shows up at the Jacksons’ door. He is elegantly tailored (leaving open the bottom button of his vest), suave, fast-talking, evasive and fills the tidy sitting room with his cigarette smoke as he takes over the Jacksons’ lives and home to keep watch on the Krogers. With no reason to suppose that his mission or his principles are sound, the Jacksons, bound by a peculiar combination of good manners, class subservience and loyalty to crown and country, allow him to use their home to spy on their dearest friends. Cathy Lee-Visscher is breathtaking as the ditzy and rollicking Helen Kroger, a woman immersed in memories of a life she never lived. And Paul Murphy plays her husband, a book dealer with plenty on his mind. Skillfully directed by Roseann Cane, “Pack of Lies” is entertaining and unsettling. Very unsettling. “Pack of Lies” plays at the Ghent Playhouse through April 1. For tickets and information, call 518-392-6264, or go to www.ghentplayhouse.org.