Singin’ in the Rain meets Strangers on a Train, Noel Coward meets Noel Fielding, Operation Mincemeat is the fast-paced, hilarious and unbelievable true story of the twisted secret mission that won us World War II.
Date/Time: Tuesday, 16th July 2024 at 15:00
Location: Fortune Theatre, Russell Street, London, WC2B 5HH
Price: £41 per person. Member and guest £82. Face value £49.50pp
Event Organiser: Pete Wells. Flat 7, Wayfaring Court, Safflower Lane, Romford RM3 0LQ
SpitLip’s anarchic adaptation of one of the second world war’s weirdest stories has been working its way up from the fringe for four years now. The plot is well documented from history books to Hollywood: Britain needed to fool Hitler into moving his troops out of Sicily before their planned European invasion, so the secret service planted false plans on a corpse, and floated it on to a Spanish shore. What makes this version of the real-life spy caper so joyfully smart, not to mention topical, is its focus on the overweening arrogance (and sometimes ineptitude) of the Eton-educated war “heroes” who came up with the plan.
Gender-swapped roles underline the satire: Natasha Hodgson’s self-serving Ewen Montagu swaggers around like God’s gift to espionage, ignoring the warnings of his more assiduous colleagues. “Is any of this legal?” asks the ever-anxious Charles Cholmondeley (David Cumming). “Good question,” replies Montagu. “The answer is, of course, never mind.”
This is a show that can movingly celebrate the unsung women of the secretarial pool while also allowing them to express their frustrations in a perfectly choreographed Beyoncé pastiche. There’s pathos, too, among the gag-packed songs, including those dignifying the dead man whose body was treated so cavalierly.
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