REVIEW - Agents, you have your commands, go and watch the world class musical Operation Mincemeat!

We were invited to Lowry in Salford to see Operation Mincemeat. Read what our reviewer Karen Ryder had to say about this world class, must-see production...

What a way to kick start a world tour!  My mind is boggled at the brilliance of this show!  Of course I’d heard all the hype, the rave reviews, the gushing praise, but nothing prepares you for the incoming infiltration of this mission, a bizarre true story that is at the heart of our own history and has been told in the most genius of ways!  There is nothing out there like Operation Mincemeat, and that, comrades, is that!

A historical story about a crazy secret mission carried out in World War II involving a dead corpse, pulling the wool over Hitlers eyes, where even James Bond writer Ian Fleming is involved, seems a plot so unbelievable that it’s hard to imagine wasn’t fabricated.  It sounds an equally unlikely subject for a musical, and yet here we are, winner of Olivier’s, Tony’s and countless awards later, an endless amount of run extensions, and embarking on a world tour, following sell out shows in London, and a Broadway transfer!  Operation Mincemeat has taken the theatre world by storm with this very real, very true, bizarre story of how we won the war through misdirection, deception, and a dead body!  In 1943, MI5 took a huge gamble on all our futures with their risky plan, then in 2017 Lowry took a gamble on hosting the shows first scratch performances.  Skip to 2026 and the only gamble left to face is leaving it too long to buy your tickets!  So, your assignment, should choose to accept it (and we thoroughly recommend that you do), is to secure your post at Lowry with urgency before your opportunity self-destructs!

The year is 1943 and we are welcomed into MI5, the elite of the British military, as they face a conundrum.  We are losing the war, we are outnumbered by Germans, and we need to find a convincing way to make the Nazis believe Britain will invade Sardinia, instead of their true target, Sicily.  It’s the only way to ensure the Nazis are deployed to the wrong place and give us a fighting chance.  But how do you make a German army disappear?  Operation Mincemeat turns out to be the answer!  Finding a dead corpse, dressing him up as a British soldier and planting fake documents regarding their fake plan to invade Sardinia, popping him in a coffin and hoping he floats to their agent in Spain, who will accidentally on purpose make sure the fake documents end up in the hands of the Germans!  Bonkers? Absolutely! But brilliant?! Well, it won us the war, didn’t it?!

This musical marches at breakneck speed, with a phenomenally small but mighty multi-rolling cast who expertly portray an array of our British military and citizens of the world, around 82 in fact!  The brain child of musical comedy troupe SplitLip, Operation Mincemeat may have been described as ‘Mel Brooks meets Hamilton,’ or ‘Singin’ In The Rain meets Strangers On A Train’ but the truth is, it’s impossible to define for it has carved out its own unique and quirky place in musical theatre, and that’s why people can’t get enough of it!  With a dedicated fan base known as Mincefluencers, they take their beloved comedy musical seriously, even successfully writing to MI5 to uncover further information on Hester Leggatt.  They have even been known to turn up not only dressed as the characters, but as the set itself!!

The versatility of this mighty cast is phenomenal, not only switching character with rapid ease, often with the slightest of transitions, but also gender-swapping roles with lightning speed whilst maintaining clarity and effectiveness throughout.  I personally found it helpful to be clued up on the story before attending because it really is jam packed with information that all happens so swiftly, and I really didn’t want to miss anything.  Even though this show is noted for being a musical comedy, which it absolutely is, it is also surprisingly moving.  You cannot help but feel an inherent connection with the historical atrocities World War II brought our nation.  This history is so close to our own timeline that the vast majority of the audience will have had serving family members at the time.  My own Grandad was stationed in Sicily, though he always told me his contribution was to peel potatoes, a man downplaying his own memories I suspect.  The song ‘Dear Bill,’ is a particularly moving moment of the show, leaving many audience members in silent tears, moved by the calm, dignified pain hidden in plain sight and carried every day by Hester.  The sea shanty ‘Sail On, Boys’ was hauntingly beautiful and wistful, speaking of solidarity and loyalty – ‘If it’s down, it’s down together.  If it’s up, it’s up as one.’

Operation Mincemeat may be telling the story of how they made tens of thousands of German troops disappear, but they do so by somehow multiplying their own cast right before your eyes!  Five performers introduce us to over 80 characters in various locations around the globe – there is illusion and subterfuge to the highest standard, leaving you asking time and time again, “How did they do that?”  I have no idea how this cast keep track of where they should be, or who they should be, they don’t have a second to think, it all happens at breakneck speed, and it is insanely good!  Christian Andrews is Hester Leggatt (& others), a proud and dignified performance who calmly shoulders the injustices involved when working with so many bullish men and still manages to find a way to get things done.  ‘Dear Bill’ epitomised everything going on below the surface with such emotional honesty, that it struck a chord with everyone.  Then switching it up to play a deliciously devilish coroner or flamboyant and proud American pilot was quite remarkable to watch.  Seán Carey is Charles Cholmondeley (& others), and beautifully lays out his character immediately, an incredibly intelligent but socially awkward agent, lacking self-confidence, whose presence alone is often trampled on by the ‘big boy brigade’ of Eton alumni.  His bumbling tendencies are pitched to perfection, and this is an exceptionally comedic performance, tinged with a sadness at his own self-worth issues.  Next moment he is leaping around the stage as an over enthusiastic cockney or a confused Spanish coroner. 

Charlotte Hanna-Williams is Jean Leslie (& others) and not only gives an incredible performance as the ambitious and quick thinking newly appointed office clerk but brings us a much bigger story of how many women during the war were treated, disposable and at the whim of powerful men.  The ‘do as I please and you’ll prosper, if not, you’re trapped,’ notion is subtly explored, gaining a huge audience reaction.  Then we are thrown into the polar opposite performance with the likes of Spilsbury’s assistant, a fabulously funny appearance, or a Nazi pop group band member, strutting around the stage with executed and precise dance moves!  Jamie-Rose Monk is Johnny Bevan (& others) and brings us controlled chaos, desperately trying to reign Montagu in and regain a little decorum over the madcap plan.  Authority is plain to see, and decency is always battling to stay in control and not be entirely swept away by the over confident and arrogant Montagu.  With other roles taking us from the excitable Ian Fleming to the uncertain Agent in Spain, we see an eclectic array of talent!  Holly Sumpton is Ewan Montagu (& others) and bulldozes us with a character brimming with confidence, twinged with arrogance.  Commanding, controlling and manipulating with ease, it is done with such satire that you can’t help but laugh and even admire Montagu’s determination.  However, we are given plenty of space to object and react when Montagu pushes it too far, which is equally followed up with his reasoning, ensuring we are given a complex and layered character, with impeccable comic timing throughout.  This was an exceptional performance.  Throw into the mix the likes of a Naval agent and news reporter, and the changes were lightning quick and impressive.

Directed by Robert Hastie, Operation Mincemeat is one of the best planned shows I have ever seen.  It is truly mesmerising how they switch from one character to another, often multiple times within one song, and then before you know it, they are back in their original characters, and you have no idea how they did it or how they got back there.  You are blind sighted with sheer brilliance, and it has to be the most creative and unique direction I have seen in a long time.  The same is true for the whole creative team, with choreographer Jenny Arnold dazzling us with polished routines that blend and seamlessly intertwine an eclectic mix of dance styles, from music theatre to hip hop, voguing to vaudeville, it is a phenomenal watch and exquisitely executed.  Ben Stones, set and costume designer, places us firmly in 1943 with the casts main attire, switching the characters with minimal, yet affective hints of individuality.  The set is deep in the heart of MI5, with a back wall representative of a large blue evidence board that also doubles as a screen for projections, taking us to the sea, the night sky, to top secret plans and…….wait, they’re top secret!  I can’t tell you anymore!  As the show opens with echoes of Winston Churchill delivering his ‘beaches’ speech, and morse code tapping away in the background, a neon lit square opens up to reveal Montagu, ready to reel us in and open with the fantastic ‘Born To Lead.’  The music is perfection throughout, effortlessly blending a multitude of styles from musical theatre to pop, vaudeville, dance, and even posh rap!  Seeing the Nazi’s depicted as a performative pop band, with full suggestive dance moves was hilarious and a riotous opening to the second half, whilst the timing involved in songs such as ‘Spilsbury’ with an endless stream of telephone wires, hats, and a briefcase blew your mind.

To use Winston Churchill’s words to sum up the incredible achievement and dream of SplitLip, aka David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natsha Hodgson, and Zoé Roberts - “This was their finest hour.”  Operation Mincemeat is thoroughly deserving of every accolade it receives, for not only is it an exquisitely written, performed, and produced unique showcase of talent and musical theatre, it shines a light on the man that never was, Glyndwr Michael.  An invisible hero, almost lost to the shadows of war.  An unnoticed homeless man whose corpse was used to win WW2, a nameless answer to an impossible situation.  For years his identity was unknown, offering no recognition to his sacrifice, but amateur historian Roger Morgan discovered the ghost inhabiting the fictitious Major William Martin in 1996, allowing the Major to respectfully give his body back to Glyndwr Michael.  And now, thanks to Operation Mincemeat, he will never be forgotten.  You will delight at the sheer bloody mindedness of willpower, ingenuity, togetherness, trust, impudence, and just a little bit of reckless crazy!  You will feel emboldened by the unlimited determination and mighty strength displayed by just a handful of people, and the possibilities of change this can bring.  You will be baffled and bamboozled by the truth of what happened, and yes – it really did happen – and you will leave in a whirlwind of unfiltered awe and wonder.  Operation Mincemeat is brimming with talent, pride, and genius.  It’s masterful with razor sharp ingenuity, performed at the speed of light, and delivered through transformations so deft they feel like sleight of hand.  The impact is pure illusion, stage magic, and subterfuge.  You spend half the show laughing and the other half wondering how on earth they are pulling it off!  

WE SCORE OPERATION MINCEMEAT...

Operation Mincemeat is on at Lowry, Salford until Saturday 28th February 2026.


Watch our "In Conversation with Christian Andrews and Holly Sumpton" video about the show.

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