After sold-out development runs at the New Diorama Theatre in 2019 and Southwark Playhouse in 2020, 2021 & 2022, plus an extended Riverside Studios run this summer, Operation Mincemeat transfers to the West End’s Fortune Theatre for previews (SpitLip never rest on their laurels) starting on the 29th March, followed by an 8-week run beginning on the 9th May 2023. Operation Mincemeat will be following thirty-three hugely successful years of The Woman In Black at the Fortune Theatre.
Tickets are on General Sale now from the Official Box Office at OperationMincemeat.com. Priority access to the best seats is available via the official mailing list. Tickets are from £19.50.
The year is 1943 and we’re losing the war. Luckily, we’re about to gamble all our futures on a stolen corpse.
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. The question is, how did a well-dressed corpse wrong-foot Hitler?
Operation Mincemeat won The Stage Debut award for Best Composer/Lyricist, the Off-West End award for Best Company Ensemble and was listed in the Observer’s Top 10 shows of the year. The show is currently featured in the V&A’s Re:Imagining Musicals display, exploring how musicals have continuously reimagined, reinvented and reinterpreted themselves over time.
SpitLip said: “We’re overjoyed, overwhelmed, overtired, and cannot believe we’re bringing our show to the West End, where it will definitely run for at least 33 years”
Jon Thoday for Avalon said: “We’re very pleased to have supported the show to date and delighted to be chosen by SpitLip to help bring such a funny, moving and brilliant show to a wider audience”.
The show was commissioned by New Diorama Theatre, co-commissioned by The Lowry, and supported by the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat with additional support from Avalon.
Operation Mincemeat is presented in the West End by Avalon in association with SpitLip.
Previous Praise for Operation Mincemeat:
“actors hurl themselves into the frenetic fray, multitasking with little more than a few strings of telephone wire and some clever lyrics…Amid many breathless japes there is a beautiful song about lost love, Dear Bill.” ★★★★
Quentin Letts, The Sunday Times
“A dazzling musical masterpiece… Ingenious, inventive, a brilliant role-swapping cast, great songs, and the true story of a macabre MI5 plot against the Nazis. What more do you want…this ceaselessly inventive musical scarcely puts a foot wrong: get booking, on the double” ★★★★
Sam Marlowe, The i
“as daring as it is comic… a staggeringly high-energy explosion… It has all the subtlety of an M4 Sherman tank crashing its way from one sketch to the next – and is all the better for it… a totally brilliant musical… funnier than Hamilton… exceptional.” ★★★★
Isobel Lewis, The Independent
“But whoof! It blew the roof clean off. Hoots and tears welcomed this ingenious, touching musical. Taut lyrics, vintage gags, a wild tale and tunes that followed me out into the night air, in hums and whistles. Perfection… An artisanal masterpiece” ★★★★★
Luke Jones, The Daily Mail
“A masterclass of macabre musical comedy, masterfully performed.” ★★★★★
Tim Bano, The Stage
“Madcap and utterly marvellous…This taut and tiny production roars in the face of bloated West End blockbusters. An Absolute triumph.” ★★★★★
Stefan Kyriazis, The Sunday Express
“A finely varied score, and lyrics that shame most big musicals.” ★★★★
Susannah Clapp, The Observer
“Few theatrical success stories have been more heartening than the rise and rise of this quirky musical… a snappy production… high comedy mixed with some genuinely touching moments”
Hugh Montgomery, Metro
“Right now, it’s Operation Mincemeat that has people talking. With a huge number of 5* reviews the fast-paced, hilarious production centres around the most bizarre true story you’ve ever heard.”
Daniella Scott, Cosmopolitan
“surprising depths… deliciously rackety…takes you by surprise at every turn, with many clever ideas that come off”
Nick Curtis, The Evening Standard
“less a ripping yarn than one entirely torn to shreds.” ★★★★
Holly Williams, Time Out
“an absolute must-see” ★★★★★
Chris Selman, Gay Times
“SpitLip could go stratospheric. Operation Mincemeat has proved to be one of the most exciting musical theatre debuts in decades.”
The Stage
“currently killing it at Southwark Playhouse”
Lyn Gardner, Stagedoor
“Move over Hamilton and Six. There’s a new historical musical in town and it’s creating ripples…the West End needs to take notice ASAP.” ★★★★★
Cindy Marcolina, Broadway World
“This production has a heart of gold. West End impresarios should check it out immediately.”
Lloyd Evans, The Spectator
★★★★★
Neil Norman, Daily Express
★★★★★
Stefan Kyriazis, The Sunday Mirror
“Glows with theatrical invention and delivers laughs by the gallon. Unmissable.” ★★★★★
Alex Wood, WhatsOnStage
“musical theatre heaven” ★★★★★
Craig Glenday, Musical Theatre Review
“Showcases the utterly bonkers plot in the most fantastical way… cannot recommend it enough – perfectly cast… beyond doubt one of the most brilliant, funny, captivating shows with proper laugh-out-loud moments… you won’t be disappointed”
Zara Janjua, The Sun
“moving at breathless speed, the five performers take on a dazzling series of gender-switching roles… a Beyoncé-esque assertion of female power…excellent performers… There are some big, blowsy shows around in the West End, but this little belter is staging its own audacious invasion plan” ★★★★★
Suzi Feay, The Financial Times
“a miraculous musical that tells the entire story in a kind of accelerated farce that is part Mel Brooks, part SIX, part Hamilton with a side order of One Man, Two Guvnors.” ★★★★★
Neil Norman, The Daily Mirror
- A PISSEDMAS CAROL – REVIEW – LEICESTER SQUARE
The infamous Sh!t Faced Showtime are back in London with a festive edition, they have taken Dickens’ classic and put a drunken spin on it. The formula is the same as other iterations of the Shi!t Faced shows, one member of the cast has been boozing, and this time it is John Milton who plays … More A PISSEDMAS CAROL – REVIEW – LEICESTER SQUARE - A CHRISTMAS CAROL – REVIEW – ALEXANDRA PALACE
Spine-tingling yet heart-warming, Mark Gatiss’s retelling of A Christmas Carol truly encapsulates the haunting atmosphere of a Victorian ghost story, balanced out with enough humour so as to capture the festive season. Led by Keith Allen as Scrooge, with Peter Forbes as Marley, this show is perfect for Christmas viewing. The set design by Paul Wills is instantly captivating, … More A CHRISTMAS CAROL – REVIEW – ALEXANDRA PALACE - A WOMAN WALKS INTO A BANK – REVIEW – THEATRE503
The title of this winner of Theatre 503’s 2023 International Playwriting Award by Roxy Cook may seem like the set-up to a joke, but the narrative that unspools is instead an affectionate, gently barbed and at base quite sobering portrait of three ordinary souls (and one restless feline) adrift in modern Moscow. There is much … More A WOMAN WALKS INTO A BANK – REVIEW – THEATRE503 - PETER PAN GOES WRONG – REVIEW – LYRIC THEATRE
Peter Pan Goes Wrong first premiered in London at the Pleasance Theatre in 2013, and earlier this year the show made its Broadway debut. Now the production is back in the West End for the Christmas season. Following on from The Play That Goes Wrong, in this production, J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan is staged by … More PETER PAN GOES WRONG – REVIEW – LYRIC THEATRE - GHOST STORIES BY CANDLELIGHT – REVIEW – SAM WANAMAKER PLAYHOUSE
Drawing heavily from the classic canon of the British supernatural, HighTide’s trio of contemporary Gothic narratives uses traditional storytelling formats to address contemporary themes. Directed by Elayce Ismail, reverent musical interludes accompany tales of apparitions and nighttime conjurings that speak of women from the East of England. Unfortunately, the effect is less chilling and more … More GHOST STORIES BY CANDLELIGHT – REVIEW – SAM WANAMAKER PLAYHOUSE