COLD War tension descends on the Tivoli Theatre, Wimborne with Hugh Whitemore’s award-winning play Pack of Lies on February 10-12.

Fifty years ago, the nation was gripped by the Portland Spy Ring court case at the Old Bailey where three men and two women were tried and convicted of passing official secrets to the Soviet Union.

The court proceedings were closely followed here in Dorset, for two of the defendants, Henry Houghton and his girlfriend Ethel Gee, worked at the Underwater Weapons Establishment at Portland.

These two had stolen classified material on Britain’s first nuclear submarine and passed it to their go-between, Gordon Lonsdale, who, in turn, took the information to a quiet suburban house in Ruislip owned by Peter and Helen Kroger who transmitted it to Moscow.

This production by Wimborne Drama is directed by Phyllis Spencer and stars Penny Pearson and Colin Pile as Barbara and Bob Jackson, Chrissie Neal and Graham Hawkins as Helen and Peter Kroger, with Richard Neal as Mr Stewart. The cast is completed by Elinor Fitchett, Steph Katz and Louise Tegerdine.

“The Cold War may seem a long time ago,” says Phyllis Spencer, “But with Russian spies once more in the news, the themes in Pack of Lies are as relevant today as they were in 1961.”