Theatre / Operation Mincemeat

Left to right: Hester, Johnny, Ewen, Charles and Jean.

"So we've got to lie
about where we strike
so we can fool the Reich"

— Full Company, "Born to Lead"

The true story of how the British secret service misled the Nazis and helped the Allies win WWII by dressing up a stolen corpse. What better subject for a musical?

Written and composed by the Spit Lip company (David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoe Roberts), performed by five actors in multiple roles with a band of three elements. First opened at the New Diorama Theatre in London, it later moved to the Southwark Playhouse, then to the Riverside Studios. It then opened on the West End at the Fortune Theatre, with previews starting on the 29th March 2023.

Operation Mincemeat contains examples of:

• An Aesop: "If it's down, it's down together / if it's up, it's up as one." See also the Broken Aesop.
• Arc Words:
  • "If it's down, it's down together / if it's up, it's up as one."
  • "Some were born to follow / but we were born to lead" for Ewen Montagu.
• Artistic License – History: The fake plans actually implied that the Allies would invade Greece. Although there was a pun about Sardines that suggested Sardinia could've been a secondary objective.
• Bittersweet Ending: The operation is a success. But nobody will recognise the role of Jean and Hester, and it will take fifty years to bury Glyndwr Michael under his actual name.
• Broken Aesop: "When you write the book / then you're off the hook." That's a terrible moral... not that Montagu is a moral person in any way. See also the actual Aesop.
• Crosscast Role: Montagu, Bevan, Hester... Really, it'd be easier to list the characters that don't fall under this trope.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Does fighting the Nazis justify desecrating a corpse? Does it justify not questioning your superior officer?
• "I Want" Song: "Dead In The Water". Oh, Charles.
• Oh, Crap!: "And to tell you the truth, Tom..." There was a reason why Hester didn't like the thought of men dying in war, Jean.
• Reality Is Unrealistic: Stealing a corpse, dressing it up as an officer, handcuffing a briefcase of fake invasion plans to it, releasing it at sea, hoping that it falls into the hands of Nazis via "neutral" Spain. And it worked.
• Refuge in Audacity: The Nazis as a boy band.
• Rule of Three: "Does a newt...?" See also: Running Gag
• Running Gag: "Does a newt...?" See also: Rule of Three
• Self-Deprecation: What could possibly be worse than writing a film about a classified operation? Writing a musical, of course.
• Shout-Out: "The name is James... James." Ian Fleming must polish his writing, but he's almost there. Several publishers have expressed their interest.
• Show Stopper: "Dear Bill." By the end of the song, everything and everyone on stage is left in the dark, with the exception of Hester. The lights come back only when the applause has died down a bit.
• The Übermensch: Ewen Montagu considers himself one.

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