Stage Door News
Stage Door News
What would you do if you were asked to betray your best friends because the authorities believed them to be spies? Which is more important, loyalty to your friends or loyalty to your country?
The fourth play of our 38th season is an exciting spy story set in England in the 1960's and based on true events. The plot centres on an ordinary couple, Bob and Barbara Jackson, and their teenage daughter Julie, who live in an undistinguished "row house" in a quiet London suburb. Their best friends, the Krogers, who live across the way, have been in the neighbourhood for five years and are Canadians. Helen Kroger pops over almost every day to chat with Barbara and to see Julie, who calls her Auntie. It's all quite routine − until the day a suave member of British intelligence turns up at the Jackson household to ask if they would mind the stationing of a female observer in Julie's room to keep an eye out for a KGB motorcyclist who has been visiting someone in the vicinity. Soon the humdrum homey-ness of this lower middle class English family is shattered as they are swept into a cold-war whirlpool of deceit and betrayal – for the Krogers are suspected Soviet spies!
Pack of Lies focuses on the moral dilemmas that devastate ordinary people when petitioned to spy on their friends. "Piece by piece, layer by layer, playwright Whitemore tells his taut story of friendship versus loyalty, of necessary lies and heartbreak" (Richard J. Scholem, Radio Long Island). The Jacksons, caught between conflicting claims of friendship and national security, are tormented, appalled and guilt-ridden. Even so, they conceal the truth from daughter Julie and help the government with its continued surveillance – as Barbara asks, "What's the difference between one lie and another?"
"A rare theatrical achievement. A highly suspenseful and continuously engrossing spy thriller." ~ Sy Syna, New York City Tribune
"A chilling and superbly written play…with a tragic human dimension that lifts it above mere suspense writing." ~ Jacques Le Sourd, Gannett Westchester Newspapers
Be sure not to miss Stage Centre Productions' fourth play of the 38th season at the Fairview Library Theatre, Pack of Lies, opening on Thursday, March 19 and running until Saturday, March 28, 2015. Please call the Box Office at 416-299-5557 to reserve tickets or book on line through http://www.stagecentreproductions.com.
STAGE CENTRE PRODUCTIONS
presents
PACK OF LIES
by Hugh Whitemore
Thursday, March 19 until Saturday, March 28, 2015
Directed by Lorraine Kimsa
Set Design by J. B. Pierre Rajotte
Lighting by David Buffham
*
With Heather Goodall, Harry Hoffman, Valerie Holland, Sara Jackson, Roger Kell, Robin Phillips, Cindy Platten and Lawrence Stevenson
Details
DATES: March 19 to 22 (Thursday to Sunday) and March 25 to 28 (Wednesday to Saturday)
MEDIA/VIP OPENING: Thursday, March 19, 2015 at 8:00 p.m.
TIMES: Performances begin at 8:00 p.m., except the matinees on March 22 and 28, which begin at 2:00 p.m.
TICKETS: Adults $27.50, Seniors/Students $22 To order tickets call 416.299.5557 or click http://www.stagecentreproductions.com/SCP_SingleTickets.htm
LOCATION: Fairview Public Library Theatre, 35 Fairview Mall Drive, North York, steps away from the Don Mills Subway Station on the Sheppard Line. There is plenty of free parking in the Fairview Mall parking lot. Both wheelchair access and hearing devices are available.
Stage Centre Productions, a full repertory theatre company founded in 1977 and dedicated to presenting a wide cross-section of plays, usually offers five productions each season. This season is the fourth under Artistic Director Michael James Burgess, who brings many years of experience to the company. We now celebrate our 38th season, having opened with Arsenic and Old Lace, followed by 84, Charing Cross Road and Perfect Wedding. Between May 14th and 23rd, 2015, we shall be offering Harvey by Mary Chase. The season closes with a bonus production, A. R. Gurney’s Love Letters, which will play from June 11th to 20th, 2015.
The company constructs all the sets, costumes, wigs and properties required for each production at its rehearsal workshop in Scarborough.
For more information about Stage Centre Productions check out our website at http://www.stagecentreproductions.com/SCPframest.html
For further information please contact 416-299-5557
Photo: Cover of Pack of Lies. ©2012 Oberon Modern Plays.
2015-02-19
Toronto: Stage Centre productions presents Hugh Whitemore's "Pack of Lies" March 19-28