OPERATION MINCEMEAT

Every now and again a piece of theatre is created that takes the world by storm. This one started small but pretty soon transferred to the West End where it rapidly became a huge hit and gained the accolade of being the best reviewed show in West End history. Add to that a string of top awards both here and in the USA and you can see why Theatre Royal Brighton is packed to the gunnels, an appropriate naval term, on what has been a record-breakingly hot day in May.

Photo Matt Crockett

Friends had seen this in its early and simpler format but several years on there is no doubt that the bar has been raised with an excellent set and costumes by Ben Stone that are as clever and witty as the show deserves. And what a show it is…

Creators David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts, Splitlips, are a phenomenon, taking the bizarre wartime operation to redirect Hitler’s troops from Sicily to Sardinia by planting mis-information on a corpse may well at the time have seemed like madness but over half a century later to turn it into a musical, and indeed a musical comedy, well madness magnified, it could all have gone so very wrong…

It has of course gone so very well, and that success has to be down initially to a truly brilliant and inventive team. From the very start the audience are engaged, the structure of the whole is undoubtedly complex. Five actors taking on every role, ignoring gender but somehow creating memorable characters that there was never any doubt who we were witnessing as the plot unfolds.

The songs too are very memorable, plundering the world of musical theatre for comic effect, we get hints of Hamilton, Les Miserables, Lloyd Webber… too many subtle but noticeable references, all done with dexterity and with charm and in cheekiness this clever show out-Brookses Mel Brooks. Did we ever think that anyone else could make Nazi’s funny, of course not, but they do.

Equally the show is about the impenetrable class system of the time and the oppression of women in the workplace. I particularly loved that moment when the women in the story realise that after the war is over there may be opportunities created, or should I say vacated, by the men lost in battle. A sad fact but no less important and true.

So many words and as yet not one mention of the brilliant cast for this touring production. The story is told at breakneck speed, each member of the cast of five taking on multiple roles. The costume changes alone are worthy of awards but to that you must add that they all have fine voices, the ensemble singing is faultless but so are the solos. They can all dance too, in fact there are very few moments when they are still and choreographer Jenny Arnold creates a wonderful sense of period but also creates the urgency of the situation and the tension. And Robert Hastie’s direction is razor sharp, not resorting to pantomime and yet leaving no stone unturned when directing a gag.

Holly Sumpton. Photo Matt Crockett

More words and still no mention of the players so here you have it and in no particular order. Holly Sumpton is so very funny as Ewen Montagu, pompous, entitled, arrogant and ambitious to a fault, she delivers upper class smarm with aplomb and despite being perhaps the least likeable character is totally likeable.

Christian Andrews. Photo Matt Crockett

Christian Andrews is Hester Leggart amongst many other roles but it is his depiction of the straight laced senior secretarial officer that wins out and the beautifully written love letter ballad is a tender moment of stillness in an evening of frenetic comedy, and very moving.

Morgan Phillips is Charles Cholmondeley, the brains behind the ruse, shy, clumsy, the real deal when it comes to the English boffin but that gangly physicality disappears when he is thrown into a complex dance number only to revert to character when the music stops. He’s more Richard Wattis than Charles Hawtrey but combines elements of both and for some of us, those old enough to remember, that works so very well.

Jamie Rose-Monk. Photo Matt Crockett

Jamie-Rose Monk is Johnny Bevan, a role in which she excels in delivering yet more pomposity, but in other places she is wonderfully funny in the running Ian Fleming gag or as the sweaty operative in Spain.

Charlotte Hanna-Williams. Photo Matt Crockett

Finally Charlotte Hanna-Williams delights as Jean Leslie, the secretary, so much a part of the team and a 19 year old craving emancipation and recognition in a world dominated by upper class public school boys.

The evening is fast paced, packed with comedy but also with strong but not laboured messages – and the audience lap it up. I would have sat through the whole thing again, straight after, despite it being stiflingly hot. All those awards, all those accolades, and as yet not enough and without doubt more will come, here are mine…

Andrew Kay

26 May

Theatre Royal Brighton

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