"It's not about lesbians," Lillian Hellman once said about her controversial play "The Children's Hour," which ran 691 performances on Broadway in the 1934 season. "It's about the power of a lie."

When the curtain opens on the show at the Players' Ring in Portsmouth, we quickly find out that eavesdropping is the girls' chief hobby at the Wright-Dobie school. After eight long years, the school is about to become profitable. The teachers have other problems, though. Young Mary has a passing acquaintance with the truth. She bullies, she threatens and she lies for no good reason. Martha Dobie (Ashley Love) and Karen Wright (Kristan Raymond Robinson) have no idea how to handle such an intriguing bundle of will. Mary's wealthy and socially connected grandmother, Mrs. Tilton (Anne Rehner), is wrapped right around the child's finger. Doctor Joseph Cardin (Chris Curtis), Mary's cousin and Karen's fiance, tries to maintain a soothing, brotherly effect on the girl, to no avail. Mary's final tale has the power to destroy more than just the school.

Tana Sirois plays Mary as a terrifyingly chilling, calculating little girl. The rest of the well-cast students are a pressurized group of girls literally held captive by her force, but they're also kids who will find the fun and the humor in damn near anything.

Kristan Raymond Robinson does a splendid job of playing Karen as a happy young woman, on the verge of getting everything she wants in life. She does equally well as that same young woman-after her dreams, one by one, are snatched away-holding onto sanity by sheer will alone, exhaustion seeping out of every pore. After Joe's last scene, she seems a woman truly bereft, all the more so because she was once so determined and alive. Raymond Robinson's skill is in layering her performances and in putting herself in the moment thoroughly and honestly. She doesn't falter for a second here.

Ashley Love does an admirable job as Martha; she's tough, she's smart, she's sweet, she spars. We like her as soon as we meet her. However, in the denouement, the peak isn't as powerful as the crescendo. At her most revealing moment, she seems flat. Anne Rehner, as Mrs. Tilton, is a gracious and proper lady; we understand her actions even when we don't like them. Sarah Bailey, as the no-nonsense maid Agatha, is hysterically funny in the same way Florence was with George Jefferson-she actually gets to say what everyone in the audience is thinking. Chris Curtis is gentlemanly; he morphs into angry defender, then becomes defeated lover. At every moment we believe him, and he carries a chunk of our hearts with him when he leaves the school. Denise McDonough brings a touch of humor as crazy and self-centered Lily Mortar.

Director Tim Robinson not only cast this show brilliantly, but I applaud him for letting a three-act play be a three-act play, instead of trying to squash it into two. Many directors will put acts one and two into a single act, making for a restless audience, but Robinson gave us our two intermissions, all the more fun to excitedly discuss plot points with fellow audience members. Robinson has a way of getting complex performances out of his actors and making them seem simple. There were times during the show when the lights faded to black and the audience didn't applaud; we were too caught up in the moment. Too busy feeling and watching.

"The Children's Hour" runs through April 24 at The Players' Ring, 105 Marcy St., Portsmouth, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m. There's also a matinee Sunday, April 25 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $10 general admission, $8 students and seniors. For reservations, call 603-436-8123.