Imagine.
The world is at war, and you are losing. You desperately need to strike the opposing forces, but your plans must not be discovered. To take it further than that, you need to create an entirely fake set of plans to feed the enemy in the hopes that they will leave a key location undefended. But how do you make these fake plans believable?
Why, plant them on a dead body made to look like a soldier who crashed and drowned at sea of course!!
This may sound bizarre, unlikely, and downright unbelievable to some, but it is actually based on the true story of Operation Mincemeat from WWII.
Desperate for a way to invade Sicily without strong resistance, naval intelligence officers Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley concocted a plan in which they would set a dead body adrift in Spanish waters with the hopes of the Germans finding it. On the body, they planted fake documents and papers detailing Allied plans to invade Sardinia, hoping it would draw German forces away from Sicily. In addition to the fake plans, Montagu and Cholmondeley created an entire life for their “drowned soldier.” His name became Major William Martin, and he had receipts from his bank and nights out and love letters from his nonexistent girl back home. All these tiny details were created to make the body and life of the soldier look real to any suspicious Germans, and in the end, it worked!! The Germans bought the fake plans, and moved their forces to Sardinia which allowed the Allied forces to invade through Sicily with minimal losses.
This story is remarkable, though admittedly morbid, but at its heart, it involves the mistreatment of a real person. Glyndwr Michael is the real name behind the fake story, and I appreciate that the writers of Operation Mincemeat made sure to honor him. The musical is a very comedic telling of this seemingly dark story, and it could have easily turned sour and distasteful had they not taken the time to point out the ethical flaws in the plan, as well as the victory it allowed.
Overall, I loved this show. The actors were phenomenal, and I was amazed at the skill it took to keep up with the lyrically complex patter songs. The set was also incredible, and each time a new door or feature was introduced, I was stunned. The versatility of the set was a a technical marvel. The lighting design was brilliant as well, and so was the costuming. There were so many quick changes throughout the show, as five actors played fifty plus characters, but the designer had clearly thought through how to create magnificent pieces while still allowing things to move at a brisk pace. The only thing that presented a problem at times was the sound mixing. It could have been where I was sitting in the theatre, but there were a few moments where it was hard to hear the actors over the band. Thankfully, I did not miss any important lines due to this, but I could see some people being taken out by the potentially missed dialogue.
The operation undertaken in this play and in real life represents a kind of theatre. The officers behind the plan had to create a character (Major Martin), and they gave him an incredibly detailed background of given circumstances. These circumstances were meant to mislead the Germans, so there was also a clear objective and target audience for the deception. Not only do Martin’s given circumstances mirror certain aspects of theatre, but Haselden’s work in Spain represents theatre in a more literal sense. He had to act and perform on behalf of the allies. If one considers acting as living truthfully under imaginary circumstances, then it could be said that Haselden was doing this by behaving as if the Allies did not have a plan when they did.
Theatre in London U of A 