Spying, a form of deception, was portrayed in Operation Mincemeat through Montagu being suspected of passing along confidential operation plans with his brother who was suspected of being a communist spy for the Nazis. The news of this suspicion slowly spread throughout the play letting a new character in on it as it progressed.
As you can imagine, as the characters found out about the alleged offense, their trust in Montagu diminished. They felt betrayed and were filled with fear of what was to come of the war.
There was also a spy in Spain that was actually working in favor of the British and took on the assignment of getting them to take the briefcase with the fake confidential documents.
There is a theatrical element to spying and deception. When you lie, you are acting. When you are acting, it’s theatre. What’s that saying? All the world’s a stage? Ah. There’s your answer. Spying and deception is theatre.
Not to mention the theatrical elements behind the actual deception that was the main operation. They made up a man (a character) and gave him a whole life (given circumstances) and receipts as proof (a script) and an intended audience (the Nazis). They put on a show and a won a whole war because of it.
Suspended belief is a tool that the director and playwright was counting on the audiences to be able to use well, another form of deception. They used all genders of actors playing multiple characters, while changing gender, and some of these transitions were on stage and perfectly visible to the audience. I believe that this was done on purpose. Is having a woman play a man not deception? Are we as audience members not spying? It raises a much bigger question of where the line lies between theatre and fancy lying/ voyeurism.
Theatre in London U of A 