Just off Camden High Street and up the stairs of the wonderfully cosy (and air-conditioned) Oxford Arms is Etcetera Theatre which, for the next two days, is home to Operation Blank, a 50-minute thought experiment about what happens when hopeless British bureaucracy meets nuclear crisis. The result is a rambunctious disaster which paints a grim albeit accurate picture of the collective “screw it” we all seem to have said in response to the world’s current state of affairs. At its core however Operation Blank is The George Grant Show and therein lies the audience’s true reward.
When speaking with Grant (writer and lead performer) after the show, I learned that Operation Blank was born from a 10-page drunken rant after a night out. And— I mean this in the best possible way—it feels like it. Rarely have I encountered writing which communicates the chaos of a quarter-life crisis, with its dreams and grievances and intrusive thoughts, with such crystal clarity. Grant takes the complicated internal struggle of wanting desperately to do better while taking no active steps in that direction and manages to express it through the most unlikely of setups: a Microsoft Teams meeting which pits Grant (in person and playing the earnest junior employee) versus Grant (online and in multiple incompetent avatars, including a potato). The premise is so ridiculous that it could have easily descended to nonsense, but Grant’s poignant performance and tight script save it from this fate. While the conflict between a rational everyman and a cast of incompetent fools is a familiar formula, Grant’s script makes it specific to the present moment. Combined with surprise elements of psychological horror and impeccable comedic timing, we are treated to a show which is truly original and (gasp!) worth missing the football for.
Operation Blank runs until 11th July 2026 and tickets can be found at https://www.citizenticket.com/events/etcetera-theatre/operation-blank/ The show then travels to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2026 and tickets can be found at https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/operation-blank.
Reviewer: Saloni Sanwalka
Reviewed: 8th July 2026
North West End UK Rating:
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