Operation Mincemeat – Review – Leeds Grand Theatre
By Hazel Davis, September 2026
It’s hard to know what else to write about the best-reviewed show in West End history. Everyone’s already said it. Mostly, what they’ve said is, “have you seen it yet? How many times?”
The show has finally washed up in Leeds for another hotly anticipated Yorkshire run, with a trail of five stars behind it.
You probably know the plot – one of the most far-fetched and brilliant plans of WWII. It’s 1943 and the Allies aren’t necessarily winning the war. So MI5 come up with an audacious plan to fool the Germans with a dead body washed up on the shores of Spain (“It’s not hard. You take a left at France then it’s straight on until you hear maracas”), dressed up as a British soldier with top secret documents on him.
The show bills itself as “Singin’ in the Rain meets Strangers on a Train, Operation Mincemeat is the true story of the twisted secret mission that won us World War II” but this is much more The Producers meets Book of Mormon, with all the humour of these shows.
image: Matt Crockett
“Cult phenomenon”
Five actors (Christian Andrews, Seán Carey, Charlotte Hanna-Williams, Holly Sumpton and Jamie-Rose Monk) play more than 50 roles in this charming musical, which started its life as a fringe show back in 2019. Since then it’s grown into a cult phenomenon, thanks to some rave reviews and the sheer likeability of the performance.
Tonight’s show definitely lived up to the hype. There are some zinging lines: “Foreigners aren’t great coroners, see, and no-one in Spain is as clever as me” and “”How does this get the Germans to Sardinia? Johnny, I know that the suspense is killing ya” and the energy is infectious. The five actors roar around the stage with the enthusiasm of am-dram but am-dram this is not.
Standout songs include ‘Dear Bill’, a genuinely touching wartime letter from uptight secretary (and of course total hero) Hester Leggatt. The man next to me wiped his eye afterwards and he wasn’t the only one. ‘Making A Man’, crooked pathologist Bernard Spilsbury’s number, is glorious and beautifully played by Christian Andrews, with more than a passing resemblance to Mark Gatiss, as I’m sure he gets all the time). Montagu’s pompous finale is a total joy and perfectly satirises the heroic bluster of privileged wartime heroics.
image: Phil Tragen
“Riot of a show”
But, and this is coming from someone who eats, sleeps and breathes musicals, the songs are almost secondary to the show. Yes they’re funny and well-written and the singing is FINE (yeah I said it) but it’s the farcical acting, the energy of the cast and the watertight (sorry Glyndwr) script that really make it what it is.
The fate of the corpse (real name Glyndwr Michael) is honoured in a sweet way too and the lack of concern for his identity addressed rather touchingly. In fact, his story and legacy forms the climax of the entire show, fittingly. After all, we didn’t actually know anything about him until long after the war was won. For such a riot of a show, it’s a risk making the ending so sombre but it did nothing to diminish the sparkle and we all left the auditorium cheering.
So anyway, have you seen Operation Mincemeat yet? And how many times?
Operation Mincemeat is at Leeds Grand Theatre until 12th September
top image: Matt Crockett
Hazel Davis lives in West Yorkshire and has been a journalist for most of the UK national newspapers and many magazines, cutting her teeth on a classical music magazine. She’s the lead singer in a country band (Mustard County), plays trumpet in a wind band and big band and cornet in a brass band. When she’s not playing music or writing about it, she’s usually thinking about it.
