From its Fringe beginnings to a sold-out run at The Lowry, Operation Mincemeat proves itself less a traditional musical and more a brilliantly executed comedy play with songs, mixing the anarchic spirit of Monty Python with the affectionate wartime nostalgia of Dad’s Army, all delivered with razor-sharp twenty-first century wit.
Operation Mincemeat is described as a Musical. It is, but if I add a bit of nuance, I’d describe it as a comedy play with songs. Nothing wrong with that of course because this is a brilliant comedy play, with songs throughout.
It started life at the Edinburgh Fringe, just as Monty Python, that anarchic comedy troupe started as a revue made up of students at Oxford and Cambridge. Monty Python was an acquired taste, even at the height of their popularity.
What is undeniable is that Python set the standard for a new type of sketch show and Operation Mincemeat feels like a “Musical” that goes in a unique direction from anything before it.
The five actors Holly Simpson, Sean Carey, Jamie-Rose Monk, Christian Andrews and Charlotte Hannah-Williams are a perfect ensemble.
Their comic timing was spot on and their versatility (they play multiple characters) is impressive.
The story, set in World War Two, as MI5 came up with a plan to fool the Nazis into defending Sardinia rather than Sicily, sounds simple but the clever jokes, and the sometimes heartfelt songs, like Dear Bill, allow you to immerse yourself in a familiar feeling, a comfortable blanket of modern nostalgia.
I’m a big fan of old sitcoms like Dads Army, and there are moments that delight in ways that only Mainwaring telling Pike “don’t tell them your name Pike” could do. This isn’t just a nostalgia fest though, it’s pace and wit are very much of the twenty first century. It’s not a traditional Musical and that’s what makes it different.
On Broadway and in the West End it plays in much smaller venues than the beautiful Lowry, which is one of my favourite theatres.
To be honest, I think the style of the show is probably more suited to those lower capacity venues, but what do I know?
Operation Mincemeat is completely sold out for it’s two-week run in Salford and the audience that saw it on the night I was there, loved it. It’ll be touring the UK throughout 2026, so if you get the chance to see it and judge for yourself. It’ll be well worth the effort.
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