Review: Operation Mincemeat
Operation Mincemeat smashed records for being the best reviewed West End show in history collecting a baffling amount of 5-star reviews – and I’m here to tell you each one is earned. Avalon & SpitLip have birthed a raucous, compelling musical comedy for the ages.
Photo; Matt Crockett
The story is intriguing. We are thrust into World War Two, and MI5 are scheming a plan to try and thwart the threat of German aggression across mainland Europe. SpitLip, composed of David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts, authored the script, music and lyrics. They recount the relatively unknown story of ‘Operation Mincemeat’, a real-life plot to trick the Nazi’s into anticipating an allied counter-offensive into Sardinia. The desired effect would be for the Third Reich to move their troops into the island of Sardinia, allowing the allies to move into Sicily, which had just had 90,000 German soldiers vacate. SpitLip have constructed a narrative that is hilariously silly, rife with potent threat and urgency and also powerfully human. They adopt witty lyricism to serve up their larger than life characters and some fantastic sketch-like comedic scenes which accentuate their follies and calamitous tropes.
Photo: Matt Crockett
This cast multi-role and showcase a superb performative dynamism. Their performances are silly and buffoonish yet sincere and full of pathos. They’re men and then they’re women. It’s all played with an addictively exciting confidence that is dreamily entertaining. The scale of these roles and the innate demand in balancing these ought not to be underestimated, and they would be forgiven for moments of slight fatigue, imprecision or uncertainty – but there is none of that. Just raw, unrestrained, generous playing – all at full tilt. I cannot single out a single member of the cast for their quality, yet their quality is so high that I want to. They’re just a remarkable ensemble. They manoeuvre with fervour through Jenny Arnold’s choreography, which is at times belly-bustingly humorous and always slick and rich with intention.
Photo: Matt Crockett