HALSE Players continue to surprise and thrill their audiences with their ability to stage complex and challenging productions.

The most recent – Single Spies: An Englishman Abroad and A Question of Attribution – are Alan Bennett’s witty and thought-provoking takes on the spies Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt.

An Englishman Abroad, portrayed the real-life meeting between Burgess and Australian actress Coral Browne.

Andy Hill was superb as the drunken, lonely former spy trapped in his tiny Communist-issue flat, desperate for news of the London and the artistes he remembered.

Candy Bright was a sharp feisty Aussie who made it clear that she had no time for Burgess’ ideology, but could feel sorry for a lonely Englishman.

In A Question of Attribution the scene moved to the spacious environs of the Courtauld Institute and Buckingham Palace.

Anthony Blunt, elegantly played by Damian McLoughlin, was, unlike his fellow spy, living the artistic life in London, Keeper of the Queen’s Pictures.

Her Majesty the Queen, played by a gracious Caroline Cook, suggested that her knowledge of hidden artworks was matched by her knowledge of the hidden world of espionage.

Director Jenny Hill created a production of which cast and crew can be very proud.

MARY HAYWARD