Spies, Allies, and a Dead Body.

Can you keep a secret? This show was something 11 year old Kaylee would have gone absolutely crazy for. I went through an obsession with spies and would only read fiction books about teenage girls who were completely badass spies. This musical, however, is based on a real story! As crazy as it seems, Operation Mincemeat took place during World War II when the British were trying to figure out a way to invade Sicily and take down the Nazis. What would you do? I will tell you what they decided to do. Two officers by the names of Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley developed a plan to plant a dead body of a British captain near the southern coast of Spain via submarine. This dead body would be that of “Captain William Marton”, but the actual person was Glyndwr Michael, a houseless individual who had passed away due to poisoning. With Captain William’s body was a brief case full of papers that detailed secretive plans of invading via Greece and Sardinia. Did it work? Bloody hell it did!

This being a story about spies who often pretend they are other people and concocting a very intricately detailed plan is very dramatic on its own. Add a dead body being used by the British intelligence and you have got a full theatrical experience, agent! Cholmondeley decided the setting for the person they would eventually create in costume with the pieces of his identity and props. As mentioned earlier, the setting for Captain William where his body is dumped to appear as if he has drowned after a plane was crashed near Sardinia. He is Captain William and he is in his captain garb he perished in. He has all his extra fixings that make his identity; a love letter from his fiancé (TYSM, Hester!), an engagement ring receipt, ID, and lots of other receipts to further this fake life of a fake character. He also has the top secret plans of attacking via Sardinia in his briefcase. It sets the world for fake Captain William in the way we create fake worlds within theatre. Almost like a directorial analysis, if you will. It makes for Captain William to be more believable to the Nazis and for them to assume that this person is real, the plans are real, and to aid the British.

This musical was interesting and fun! I went into the show knowing just a tad bit of information that was shared in class today. Act I was a whirlwind of wit, camp, and awe. When Act II began and it was started with bedazzled Nazis dancing and singing to club music, I could not stop laughing. Some might say it was distasteful, but it felt silly and from a place of making fun of the Nazis. We knew they had to be in the musical at a point, it was just a matter of when. The physical comedy was wonderful as well and the use of props added to the story. It also gave me war flashbacks to working with props on the last show I worked on and make me appreciate the attention to detail and memorization from the actors!

I had wondered how five people could make a musical but by golly they sure did! A great musical at that. It was fast paced and easy to understand most of the time, although I did struggle with hearing the lyrics of the songs they were singing at times. I do not know if this was because of where we were seated in the theatre, if it was their accents, or a mixture of both! However, I was still pleasantly surprised with their gorgeous voices and thoroughly enjoyed myself!