Let’s get straight into it, because this is possibly one of the best musicals I’ve seen in a long time.

Operation Mincemeat was a British secret operation during the Second World War. To disguise the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943, MI5 dressed up the corpse of Glyndwr Michael to look like a Royal Marine by the name of William Martin, gave him false documents detailing an invasion of Sardinia, and dropped him on the coast of neutral Spain. From there, rumours were spread about the documents, until the German high command got hold of it and ordered an emergency transfer of troops from Sicily to Sardinia, leaving the boot of Italy open to the Allied invasion, which was a complete success.

Two British agents, Charles Cholmondeley and Ewen Montagu, masterminded the plan, finding a suitable body to play the marine William Martin, falsifying records and personal documents to make him seem real, and working out the full plan for how to convince the Germans that Sardinia was the invasion target and not Sicily.

The plan was a complete success, and sources claim that Hitler himself demanded the moving of troops to Sardinia when he was told about the documents, believing them to be true without question. It led to an Allied invasion of Sicily which was faster than expected, with lower death-counts on both sides.

Montagu wrote a book on the events of Mincemeat in 1953, which was turned into a film in 1956, and an Olivier-award-winning musical was made about the mission in 2019 by the musical comedy troupe SplitLip, which surprisingly is the subject of this article. I think that’s the longest foreword I’ve ever written.

I went to watch this musical with my family, as we’ve always enjoyed history, comedy, and stage shows. Perfect! From the circle, it was a thrill to see how packed the theatre was, and the impressive light shows and costume changes during the show were a wonder to behold. It’s about two and a half hours long, excluding the interval, but the first act overwhelmingly dominates in terms of the story, with the second focussing more on trying to keep up the ruse in the face of multiple incidents. Still though, each section played its role brilliantly, and I was hooked throughout.

My first thoughts on watching Mincemeat was how well-produced it was. Every song, every line, every movement was perfectly timed for the greatest effect. Packed full of jokes, and yet still absolutely accurate to the history, it was a joy and a thrill to experience.

Let’s go through some of my favourite bits. Warning — this section contains spoilers.

  • The characters: the show features a hilarious array of secretaries, secret agents, and German pop boy bands, all within a five person cast who could seemingly change costumes and adapt to new roles instantaneously.
  • The history: they have presented the events faithfully, with only the sort of dramatic licence you’d hope for. This is a true story, despite how absurd it seems. I always love it when I can properly learn something, and not have to take everything with a pinch of salt. Even Ivor Montagu, the communist-spy-turned-filmmaker living in London, was a real person who is represented in the play.
  • It kept things light: there’s a temptation, when dealing with wartime stories, to make everything focus on the death and destruction of the violence. Whilst Mincemeat didn’t shy away from this, and took particular emphasis on how the name of the man to become William Martin wasn’t known at the time, there were still plenty of jokes and funny quips to keep the audience entertained.
  • The songs: I don’t usually pay much attention to the songs themselves, but they were very fast-paced and catchy, which was good for keeping the audience engaged.

One thing that fascinated me when I was doing some research later was how Hester Leggatt, the administrative assistant during Operation Mincemeat, was almost entirely unknown until her portrayal in this musical led fans to look into her story and even contact MI5 directly for information. You can read their full findings here. (many thanks to the incredible research team for finding all of this)

As I say, during the war the true identity of major William Martin was never known, and it was only in the late 1990s that MI5 uncovered his real name. His body is now buried in Huelva, Spain, where Glyndwr was washed ashore with documents detailing the Sardinian invasion.

Overall, I do not believe I have a single criticism for this play. Except, maybe one, which is that it told us the plot of the entire play in the first song, “Born to lead”. However, when dealing with a well-known historical event, I don’t blame them for getting that out of the way, so they could focus more on the storytelling and the production of the history. So one criticism, but a really good one!

Operation Mincemeat is currently touring the UK, North America, Australia, and elsewhere. The tour has a rolling cast, adding to the magic as each performance gets a unique spin. Make sure to find your nearest showing and get there straight away — you don’t want to miss this.