★★★★★

A musical about a rather whacky World War II plot with a small cast playing a multiple array of characters, all of them playing at least one male character and one female character? Hmm, doesn’t sound like that will work.

Oh boy, does it work!

If you’ve been asleep in the world of theatre for the last few months, Operation Mincemeat is the surprise hit from unknown writers – three of whom also star in it. It follows a relatively unknown plan to deceive Hitler and his troops by convincing them that the British army were going to land in Sardinia rather than Sicily. There’s a dead corpse caught up in all of this – something that is apparently harder to do than you’d think!

Written by David Cumming, Felix Hagden, Natasha Hodgson and Zoe Roberts (musical comedy troupe ‘Spit Lip’) this show has taken a long time to reach the West End but now that it is there, there doesn’t seem to be any way to stop it – an initial short run keeps being extended (as of today it has been extended 4 times and I’m fully expecting that number to increase), and now there is a more permanent facade at the theatre. It had its premier in 2019 and its current incarnation is the 6th run that it has had and it has built up a very large fan following in this time.

Set in MI5 in 1943 we meet Ewan Montague (Natasha Hodgson) who introduces us to the brightest members of the organisation who were all ‘born to lead’. We learn that the British army needs to land in Sicily in order to advance into Italy but at the moment it is occupied by the Germans. So, one after the other, all of the characters try to present their plan to try and convince the Nazis that they are landing in Sardinia. Turns out the brightest are not exactly the brightest.

If you think you know what shows you want to go and spend a few hours seeing, then think again. This little show, designed on a shoe string budget – I think all the money was thrown at the outlandish and excellent glitzy finale – is the show that you need to go and see. The music and lyrics are clever and the characters are delightful (even the awful ones). There is even a surprise appearance from Ian Fleming! There are vibes of Billy Elliot, Six, and Hamilton in the music. It is also surprisingly moving especially at the end where they pay tribute to Glyndwr Michael who following the events was revealed to be the corpse used in the plot. Frenetic at times (matched by the choreography by Jenny Arnold) but at others simply staged and emotive, such as during ‘Dear Bill’.

I struggle to pick out any one of the five performers as it is such an ensemble piece. David Cummings, Claire Marie Hall, Natasha Hodgson, Jak Malone, and Zoe Roberts make up the regular cast – though I saw Christian Andrews as Hester Leggett, Bernard Spilsbury, and others.

In 2023 where as a society we see the rich and privileged trying to run the country, so distanced from those they are governing there is a certain sense of satisfaction seeing this group of bumbling buffoons who believe that they deserve to lead purely due to their station in life.

Whilst the West End is often saturated by big budget blockbuster musicals it is a rare treat to see something like this – a little musical with a big heart.

Operation Mincement is playing at the Fortune Theatre until 24th February 2024. Tickets are available here – https://www.operationmincemeat.com

Photos © Matt Crockett