How to describe Operation Mincemeat? A comedy. 'Quietly queer'. Brilliant. And that’s just to start. Created by theatre troupe SpitLip (consisting of David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts), the hilarious and fast-paced musical is ~2.5 hours worth of fun, catchy - and at times heartfelt and gut-wrenching - tunes, making for an unforgettable live theatre experience and a no-skip album that is just as satisfying. Nearing its first anniversary at London’s Fortune Theatre, Operation Mincemeat (OM) is now the best-reviewed show on the West End.
Mincemeat tells the real and almost-unbelievable story of a 1943 MI5 mission to trick the Nazis into moving their troops from Sicily in order to help the Allied forces liberate the island. By dressing a dead body as a British pilot, placing fake documents and invasion plans on him, and making sure he washed up on the shores of Spain, the British successfully tricked the Germans and took Sicily much more quickly and with many fewer losses than expected. This sounds like a difficult basis for a musical and not a great basis for a comedy, either, but OM treads that careful line of respecting the source material and embracing its own ridiculousness, and does so well. It laughs at the absurd nature of the plot - like an American pilot crashing the same day that the staged body washed up and set the plan in motion - while letting the reality of using the body of a then-anonymous man to hopefully help us win the war set in. Leaning on that absurdity, with campy coroners and fusty old admirals, it tells its story in a nuanced, but funny way.
It’s a rare being nowadays: a completely original musical in what seems to be an endless growing sea of shows based off of existing intellectual property, like a movie or book (Mrs. Doubtfire, for example). These “IP musicals” can either be a quick cash grab or an effort to expand the original media with music and new staging. And though OM is based off of an existing event, it’s far from uninventive. You can tell that the five years of development that went into refining the musical since its 2019 premier at the New Diorama Theatre created a relentless, rewarding, and wholly original experience. After seeing the show for the first time, I was in awe of the sheer amount of work that’s clearly put into it: it's full of non-stop cues, constant changing of tracks and characters within the space of one song, and seemingly never-ending swaps of costumes and set pieces. And on top of that, it’s still hilarious. It’s clear that everyone in OM always needs to be on point, and that they always are.
It's an interesting show in terms of visual presentation, too. The set is bare-bones with two desks, two chairs, some rolling steps, and a blackboard (plus some phones, there’s a fair few of those). Given the sparseness of the set, the lighting does a lot of heavy lifting, using the back wall with its lighting rig to turn the stage into a fully-formed space. Each set piece is multi-use, switching into another needed one when the show calls for it, like a blackboard being flipped around and becoming a door to a coroner’s office. The amazing set (and costumes) are the work of Ben Stones, who made a versatile space for the actors to tell the story and create the world of Operation Mincemeat. All of this was built off the ideas from its time at Riverside Studios, the show’s home prior to its West End run where the show was basically fully formed, but had a bigger budget (and if you’ve seen the ‘Glitzy Finale’, you’ll know). While a show can wow with a big and flashy set such as Moulin Rouge!, sometimes a few set pieces are all you need. The core of the story will bring the feeling of being immersed in the space and time that the story happened in, and OM knows this well.
Operation Mincemeat’s approach to gender is especially refreshing. With a cast of five (Cumming, Hodgson, Roberts, Claire-Marie Hall, and Jak Malone), there are three gender-switched roles which are Monty, Hester, and Bevan. However, Monty and Hester are the only roles that are specifically gender-switched and treated as a fabric of the piece. It’s all played straight, without a hint of ‘isn’t this funny we’re playing a different gender’ to it. You see Natasha Hodgson as Monty, and she is Monty, regardless of gender. The effortless switching between characters and genders in such deft ways is truly impressive and is just one more reason why this show is so special. Gender is a guideline within this place - simply another facet of the story. And everyone is welcomed into it openly and eagerly.
One of the perks of gender being merely a guideline for the show is the multi-faceted performances by both principals and understudies it allows. Each person brings a new feel to each role, and each new combination of actors always equals viewing the show through new eyes. You can find new dynamics among the characters and discover new facets of those characters themselves. Each time you enter the theatre, you could see an entirely different show depending on casting for that night. As the run has progressed, the nine actors (five principals and four understudies) have grown into the characters, building off of each other to find and settle into the many different dynamics the rotating roles bring.
Operation Mincemeat is a testament to how good theatre can be, how theatre can draw you into its world so effortlessly and tell a story in a new and exciting way. SpitLip created a show to welcome everyone and to tell a story which few know. It keeps drawing you back for more, and you can’t help but bring more people with you each time you experience it. The show intrigued me from the start, and I listened to the album 124 times before actually seeing it live. It helped me get back into theatre in a major way, something I’m forever grateful for. I made new friends and found new creativity that I never expected. So, thank you SpitLip, and the people who work on Operation Mincemeat so tirelessly to make it the show it is. Sail on.
Operation Mincemeat was commissioned by New Diorama and co-commissioned by The Lowry. It is running through September 21, 2024 at the Fortune Theatre. For tickets, visit operationmincemeat.com.
Words: Miles L (they/them)
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