It’s normally a bad idea to ‘corpse’ on stage, but for Operation Mincemeat it’s absolutely essential.
The comedy musical is based on the improbable but true story of a plot to confuse the Third Reich by taking the body of a homeless man, dressing him as an officer of the Royal Marines, and placing misleading items about his person to be found by the Nazis after his body is dumped off the coast of Spain.
Part farce, part thriller, part spy caper it’s the little musical that could, going from an 80-seat London theatre to significant success in the West End and on Broadway, before launching on concurrent tours in the UK, US, Canada, China, Mexico and New Zealand.
The show retains that intimacy, featuring just five cast members, each with a main role but also rapidly cycling through a blizzard of characters. With a big stage and a small cast there’s no room for anyone to slouch, but the standout performance come from Christian Andrews, as senior secretary Hester Leggatt; Dear Bill is a tear-jerking surprise, with a stillness that is pretty much unique in this frenetic show, and bold direction that sees the rest of the stage turn to black.
Holly Sumpton also dazzles as spiffing proto-MI5 agent Lieutenant Commander Ewen Montagu, a Boys’ Own dream of a British officer, never letting ability or doubt get in the way of rising to the top, but doing so with so much charm you can’t help go along with it.
Jamie-Rose Monk does a great comic turn as Bond-author Ian Fleming, who improbably yet genuinely was involved in the department working on the plans; Seán Carey is a delightfully bumbling – despite is fear of bees – master-plotter Charles Cholmondeley; and Molly Cutter literally saved the show on opening night as a stand in as ambitious secretary Jean Leslie.
The unseen heroes who make all this possible though are director Robert Hastie and set and costume designer Ben Stones who have poured bucketloads of creativity into the staging of this production, with dozens of quick changes, multi-use props, hidden doors, and surprise reveals. The stage management crew, led by Sarah Ware, keep the chaos running beautifully. The cast perform a feat switching between dozens of characters, but the stagecraft behind the scenes is immense too.
The original company take joint credits on the book, music, and lyrics, and have packed in plenty of great gags into the songs and script, which playfully references its own existence, and audaciously jumps between genres, from the sea shanty-esque ballad of Sail On, Boys to the Spears-referencing Das Übermensch, and the entirely, gloriously unnecessary big show vibes of A Glitzy Finale.
The original Operation Mincemeat plan is the kind of thing you say you couldn’t make up. But they did. And then they did a comedy musical about it too. The rouse helped win the war. This show doesn’t quite hit those heights, but it is winning theatre.
- Operation Mincemeat is at Norwich Theatre Royal until Saturday, 10 October 2006, then touring nationally, including Cambridge Arts Theatre, 19-24 October 2026 and 2-6 November 2027.