Enter the secretive, shocking world of spies. Shuswap Theatre’s final MainStage offering of the season is Pack of Lies.
Based on a true story, Hugh Whitemore’s plot centres on Bob and Barbara Jackson and their teenage daughter Julie.
The family is friendly with neighbours, Peter and Helen Kroger, until the couple is arrested and charged with espionage.
The real-life Krogers were spies, who were part of a Soviet espionage network known as the Portland Spy Ring of the 1950s and ’60s.
The Jacksons, meanwhile, lead ordinary lives until a mysterious agent asks to set up a surveillance operation in their daughter’s bedroom. Their discomfort turns to shock when they discover the object of the undercover operation is their closest friends.
Not only do the Jacksons begin to wonder what lies their friends have told them, but they must also hide the fact British agents have located their base of operations in their home – all the while retaining genuine affection for their friends.
Director Kim MacMillan has assembled an excellent cast of experienced actors as well as a wonderful crew of designers, builders and artists.
Among the cast is newcomer Astrid Varnes, who earned a double major – acting and political science from UBC.
Following graduation, she worked with Vancouver’s Axis Theatre, and toured a show to schools across B.C. and Canada.
In 2012, Varnes went to the University of Victoria to complete an MA in applied theatre, which includes using theatre for education, social justice or community development.
“It seemed a great way to meld my passion for theatre and political science, in the sense that drama can be used to examine, question, challenge or critique the world around us,” she says.
Other cast members include Mike Nash, Peter Blacklock, Elaine Holmes, Randy Brogden, Jamé Wonacott, Joy Peters and Althea Mongerson.
Pack of Lies opens Friday, April 24 and runs three weekends to May 9. Tickets are available online at shuswaptheatre.com or at Intwined Fibre Arts, 81 Hudson Ave. See the website for details.
