Sean Carey Archives - North West End UK

4Nov

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Operation Mincemeat – King’s Theatre

Bearing in mind the gravity of the situation that called for this outrageous 1943 wartime deception operation, not to mention the grisly, sinister details attendant to the use of a corpse, it was baffling why anyone should attempt to portray the tale as a musical. Two somewhat sombre films - and a well-researched book - were inspired by events, but seriously, a frothy, fizzy musical? Further baffling is the fact that since debuting in 2019 it’s garnered a record number (over 100!) of 5-star reviews and crossed the Atlantic, becoming one the longest-running shows on Broadway… Matching the preposterous notion required to pursue something like this is the production itself, tongue resolutely in cheek. With bells on. To brilliant effect. Fawlty-esque barely covers the lampooning of those...

Operation Mincemeat – The Lowry

Back in April 2023, my daughter and I were in London’s theatre-land, seeking something cheerful and light after enduring a four-hour production of A Little Life — a play that had left us both in a numbly depressed state. A tiny show had just opened at the Fortune Theatre, just off Covent Garden, and we decided to take a risk on some cheap, last-minute tickets. It turned out to be a very wise decision. The show was Operation Mincemeat and, in the ensuing three years, it has garnered universal audience adoration, five-star reviews galore, continued success in the West End, and a Broadway transfer with resulting Tony and Olivier Awards recognition. The next step in its seemingly inexorable rise is a world tour, which kicks off with a glitzy “yellow carpet” premiere in Salford — cementing i...

The Play That Goes Wrong – King’s Theatre, Edinburgh

If I had to be absolutely honest, Cornley’s Poytechnic Drama Society’s performance of ‘Murder at Havisham Manor’ was about one-star at best, based purely on set design alone, but seeing as even that slowly disintegrated throughout the performance, this rating is dubious at best. You’ll therefore be glad to realise, reader, I was in attendance of Mischief Theatre’s ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’, a carefully crafted physical theatre farce, where, unnervingly, everything that could have possibly gone wrong, did go wrong. ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ does what it says on the tin. The production framed through the narrative device of Cornley’s Polytechinic Drama Society’s latest production, which, thanks to inept planning and a lack of talent, goes very wrong indeed. It’s ram packed with every ki...