The Olivier Award-winning musical has landed in Leeds, bringing with it one of the strangest true stories of the Second World War. Victoria Reddington went along to press night to see whether the hype was justified.
There is a moment early in Operation Mincemeat when Ewen Montagu turns to Charles Cholmondeley and says: “The world is… a mess, Charlie. Small flashes of joy, it’s all any of us can hope for.” Written for a story set in 1943, it feels more than apt in 2026, and not just because of the state of the world. It also gets to the heart of what theatre can do at its best, pull us out of the noise for a couple of hours, make a room full of strangers feel something together, and send us back out collectively with one of those small flashes of joy.
And Operation Mincemeat delivers those flashes in abundance. For the best part of two and a half hours, a musical centred around a stolen corpse, Nazi Germany and one of the most audacious deception operations of the Second World War had Leeds Grand absolute roaring with laughter.
I am going to get my verdict out of the way early: this is the funniest musical I have ever seen.
And expectations on press night were anything but low. The production arrived in Leeds boasting 88 five-star reviews, Best New Musical wins at both the Olivier and WhatsOnStage Awards, and further Olivier and Tony success for its supporting performances.
Consider this number 89.
The premise alone sounds completely invented. It is 1943 and the Allies need to convince Hitler that their planned invasion of Sicily will happen somewhere else. Their solution is to acquire a dead body, dress him as an officer, give him a fictional identity and send him towards Spain carrying falsified military documents. Somehow, it worked. That wildly improbable true story became the basis for a musical created by SpitLip, the writing team of David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts. What started life in a tiny London theatre in 2019 went on to the West End, Broadway and now a world tour.
The cast of five are extraordinary. Holly Sumpton, Seán Carey, Charlotte Hanna-Williams, Christian Andrews and Jamie-Rose Monk play dozens of characters between them, switching age, accent, gender and personality at breakneck speed. Doors fly open, props appear, desks move, costumes change and jokes come riotously quickly. It’s an absolute joy to watch, the cast move seemingly both with the precision of a military operation, yet also with the choreographed chaos of a sketch show!
My biggest surprise of the night however, was also how very moving Operation Mincemeat is. “Dear Bill”, performed by Christian Andrews as Hester Leggatt, is an emotional tour de force. It is beautifully restrained, laden with pathos and all the more affecting because of the mayhem around it. I cried, the theatre cried, and for those few minutes we were fully immersed in Hester’s pain.
Then, in almost complete contrast, Act Two delivers “Das Übermensch”, one of the most unexpected and bold moments of the night. It is absurd and perfectly pitched – this had Leeds Grand audience absolutely roaring. That contrast is very deliberate. In a syndicated interview with former Washington Post theatre critic Peter Marks, SpitLip’s Natasha Hodgson describes the show’s shifting tone perfectly: “Things can go from being funny to tragic in a room, every day of your life.”
Zoë Roberts also speaks in the same interview about the show’s broad appeal, noting the range of ages, backgrounds and genders who have connected with it. Walking through Leeds Grand during the interval, you could completely see that reflected back. The audience spanned generations and felt genuinely diverse, and once we were back in our seats the laughter (and tears) was collectively shared across the room.
For all its awards and acclaim, there is still something pleasingly scrappy about the production, with its Fringe roots still visible. It does not rely on spectacle for the sake of it and instead is carried by sharp writing, brilliant performances, clever choreography, a versatile set and a genre-ranging score.
Operation Mincemeat never loses sight of the human story beneath the joke. Which brings us back to Montagu’s line. “Small flashes of joy, it’s all any of us can hope for.”
Luckily on this Tuesday night in Leeds, with the world definitely feeling a new kind of crazy, Operation Mincemeat supplied plenty of these flashes of joy.
The funniest musical I have ever seen.
Five stars. Review number 89. Mission accomplished.
Operation Mincemeat runs at Leeds Grand Theatre until Saturday 12th of September 2026.
How to book:
Tickets are available via Leeds Heritage Theatres at leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/operation-mincemeat-2026/ or by calling the Box Office on 0113 243 0808.
Review and images by Victoria Reddington @vic_reddington
Some images supplied
