Operation Mincemeat – Theatre Royal Bath and Touring

Christian Andrews in Operation Mincemeat at Theatre Royal Bath and Touring. Picture: Matt Crockett

Operation Mincemeat was reviewed at Theatre Royal Bath where it continues until 14 March 2026. The UK leg of the world tour continues until 28 November 2026.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

A couple of weeks ago a video of the original Broadway cast of Operation Mincemeat at their final curtain call in New York was shared on social media and there was something incredibly moving about it. It wasn’t just that the performers were singing ‘Sail On, Boys’ – a song that has become something of an anthem now – but more that the OGs were joined by two other casts: the understudies and the new Broadway MI5 recruits.

And if that wasn’t exciting enough, David Cumming, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts then zoomed from New York to Manchester to meet up with Felix Hagan (all four as SpitLip created the show when it debuted in 2019 at London’s New Diorama Theatre) to see the new UK touring cast. The show is also due to tour North America, China, Australia and New Zealand.

So that’s the New Diorama, Southwark Playhouse, Riverside Studios, the Fortune Theatre (where the West End run continues), the John Golden Theatre on Broadway, and now the world – with the show picking up both Olivier and Tony Awards along the way. It wouldn’t be going overboard to say it’s been something of a musical theatre fairytale.

A major contributing factor to the show’s success is the way director Robert Hastie’s production remains true to its Fringe roots (tour director is Georgie Staight). Sure, Ben Stones’ set now has far more bells and whistles than it did originally and is cleverly conceived with its neon-lit, map-like background grid and bank of telephones (lighting design by Mark Henderson), but more often it is moveable props – a staircase, a blackboard on wheels – that establish the scene. These are manoeuvred around the stage by a five-strong cast of performers playing multiple, non-gender-specific roles, each switching personas in the blink of an eye.

It’s quite exhilarating to watch and very much in tune with the subject matter – the infamous MI5 deception plan that convinced Hitler in 1943 that Allied troops were not planning to invade Sicily, but instead intended to strike Sardinia and Greece. How to achieve this? By releasing a corpse off the coast of Huelva in Spain disguised as Major William Martin of the Royal Marines, complete with a briefcase chained to his wrist containing ‘highly confidential’ military plans. The ruse worked spectacularly.

The brilliance of Operation Mincemeat is that while the onstage goings-on might often seem gleefully chaotic, the writing – skilful, beautifully timed and often wickedly funny – pulls all the elements together with real sophistication.

Despite the show’s awards and the abundance of related clips and news on social media, there was a wonderful sense at this performance that a large portion of the Bath audience was discovering its joy and poignancy for the very first time.

Feeling them tune in to the tone of the storytelling, the brilliant weaving of historical fact with theatrical invention, the quick-witted dialogue and the wonderfully observed characterisations – sometimes indicated by nothing more than a hat or pair of glasses – made me love the show just that little bit more.

One of the best examples of its emotional dexterity comes with Christian Andrews’ rendition of ‘Dear Bill’. MI5 matriarch Hester Leggatt’s letter begins as a love note designed to sit inside the fictional officer’s wallet but gradually reveals itself as a deeply personal declaration of love and loss, delivered without a trace of emotional overstatement. To feel the mood shift in the room – from giggles at the start to hushed emotion by the end – was incredibly moving, and testament to one of the finest musical theatre songs written in recent years.

Andrews, who deftly switches from Hester to the dodgy coroner Spilsbury and even the American pilot who threatens to derail proceedings, is as outstanding here as he was in the West End production.

Just as multifaceted and talented are three other brilliant West End alumni. There’s real sincerity, humility and gentle eccentricity to Seán Carey’s Charles Cholmondeley; Charlotte Hanna-Williams acts up a storm as Jean Leslie, discovering the hard way how workplace politics can both hinder and empower her but refusing to be confined to the role of someone who simply makes the tea; and Holly Sumpton is once again a tour de force as Ewen Montagu – the maverick willing to take risks whatever the consequences, yet still keeping colleagues and the audience on side.

Jamie-Rose Monk may be the new recruit as Johnny Bevan and others, but you would hardly know it. She handles the role’s rapid-fire demands with flair, and also makes a fine job of portraying the rather sweaty man on the inside in neutral Spain, tasked with keeping the increasingly fantastical deception plan on track.

Kudos to musical director Sam Sommerfeld, who leads a splendid four-piece band (I was convinced there were far more musicians hidden away behind the scenes). Occasionally a touch of over-exuberance affected the sound balance and a few lyrics were lost, but these moments were rare.

And so another chapter in Operation Mincemeat’s remarkable journey begins. If the audience at Theatre Royal Bath is anything to go by, the UK tour is set to bring the show even more success. The more audiences beyond London and New York get the chance to experience this gem of a musical, the better, as far as I’m concerned.

Yes, they made a bloody musical – and God, it’s brilliant.

Lisa Martland