Zygmunt's Blog

A bit about AI, a bit about musicals

Operation Mincemeat review

24 Dec 2023

date: 15.12.2023
seats: stalls, F10, F11
personal score: 4/5

cast:

(Review for people who haven’t watched the show)

This is my 2nd time seeing Operation Mincemeat. First time I went having read great reviews, but being not amazed by their performance during West End Live, so overall without expectations. Fortune theatre is rather small, with flat price for all the seats. Both times I was sitting in stalls, which I recommend, as you don’t gain much from seeing the scene from above and connection with actors feels better at their level.

From the beginning, “Born to Lead” is a great teaser to the rest of the show: quality music, very funny auto-ironic humour (quite British feature) and a few amazing performers. We are led through an engaging plot of a light-hearted in spirit, but high in stakes WW2 spy-story, rollercoaster of emotions, amazing writing of a few characters and some stunning individual performances. Show is filled with hilarious, well-timed jokes and some (but just a few) lower-quality, sometimes a bit annoying ones as well. There wasn’t a single dry eye during incredible story of Hester. But most importantly, authors (who are also performing) made us very quickly like and care about the characters, so we really feel their dillemas, pains and victories.

From technical side, songs are really high quality. For me most memorable ones were “Dear Bill”, “Just for Tonight”, “Useful” and “Glitzy Finale”. It is one of those shows in which listening to the songs’ recordings will not give you their full context. A lot is added by brilliant choreography, little dialogues in the middle of them and by simply knowing the characters when listening. However, I did find orchestra too quiet, especially during the first part. But I am not sure if that was an issue of this particular performance, or was it indented. All the actors are acting more than one role. They switch between roles and genders seamlessly. Thanks to their incredible skills, all the opposite-gender roles (John, Hester, Monty) feel very natural, like you have met them in real life.

A lot can be said about actors. I have not seen Jak Malone as the main Hester yet. David Cumming absolutely shines as nerdy scientist Charles. He has a big presence on the scene (a bit in contradiction to his character) and a good, powerful voice. I am a fan of Claire-Marie Hall, who lets us understand Jean well and root for her. But it is Sean Carey as Hester/Spilsbury that requires special mention. Writing of “Dear Bill” is flawless, but he managed to squeeze every last drop of emotion from this story and left whole room speachless. Without much spoiling, there was a joint gasp from the whole audience during “…and to tell you the truth Tom…”. It felt like the whole theatre needed a few minutes to emotionally recover. His smooth switch to Splisbury felt at this point like simply showing off. I really can’t wait to see Jack Malone in this role, as I’ve heard similarly enthusiastic reactions.

Story leaves us satisfied, but in a delicate, non-cheesy way. I do believe that this show just edges out “Come from Away” (for the medium-size shows) in my personal ranking, which is one of the highest praises I can give. Could there be anything improved about the show? For me some side stories, like Watkins and Fleming, felt a bit random and not contributing much to the show. Generally I prefer if time is spent on developing characters more. However most of the audience loved both of them so there is a good chance that I am alone in that opinion.

I can’t recommend this show enough. There are shows that in my opinion are better, but not everyone likes them. This is the one that I can’t imagine anyone leaving the theatre dissapointed. Everyone will find their own special moment, which will stay with you for a long time.