It’s ‘mission incompetence’ in Mischief’s latest comedy masterclass - a chaotic Cold War caper where blueprints vanish and accents go rogue, from the creators of The Play That Goes Wrong.
It’s 1960s London, and we’re deep in John le Carré territory. At the height of the Cold War, blueprints for Project Midnight - a weapon with the potential to end all wars - are stolen from MI6 by a Soviet spy. A handover is taking place at the Piccadilly Hotel, where American CIA agent Lance Buchanan (Dave Hearn) plans to intercept it. That is, until his overenthusiastic mother - and former agent - Janet (Nancy Zamit) shows up to support her “big, strong boy.”
Luckily for Lance, the spy’s Russian contacts (Charlie Russell and Chris Leask) are too concerned with their backstories to notice they’ve bugged the wrong hotel room. Sergei, desperate to befriend the unflinching Elena, keeps coming up with convoluted ways to impress her - most of which come dangerously close to blowing their cover.
It just so happens that Rosemary Wilson (Adele James) and her baker boyfriend, Bernard Wright, have a room at the hotel. Everything goes wrong for Mr. Wright as his repeated attempts to propose spectacularly backfire. Henry Shields makes Bernard’s ungainliness undeniably lovable, and together, the couple bring an ordinariness to the show that is a welcome contrast to the ridiculous umbrella stun guns, bugged radios and poisoned steaks.
Also staying at the hotel is Douglas Woodbead, played wonderfully by Henry Lewis, who genuinely believes he has a shot at beating Sean Connery for the role of James Bond. Once again, Lewis proves he has a gift for playing talentless actors - and I mean that as the highest compliment. Woodbead shares the same classically trained arrogance and practical ineptitude as Robert Grove in The Play That Goes Wrong, but this time, Lewis elevates the character to new calamitous heights. His stay becomes an omnishambles of his own making; he moves from room to room like a useless Midas - everything he touches turns to disaster.
Some of the show’s best gags rely on the cast’s talent for being silly with a straight face. There’s a fine line between the comic and the crass, and they walk it with remarkable precision. A prime example is Chris Leask’s mangled accent as Soviet agent Sergei: Leask is an Englishman pretending to be Russian, pretending to be English. The result is absolute chaos - and it’s absolutely hilarious.
The Comedy About Spies really is ‘mission incompetence’, and it has all the hallmarks of a great Mischief production. There are characters playing characters, incredibly technical choreography and a basket full of puns (many of which are bread-based).
What’s particularly daring about the show isn’t just its chase and fight sequences - there are some impressive stunts involving throwing knives, by the way - but also its choice of subject matter. After all, this isn’t the only spy show in the West End right now. Just around the corner, the musical Operation Mincemeat tells the story of spy antics during World War II and is vying for attention from lovers of absurd British comedy.
But where Operation Mincemeat leans into tongue-and-cheek parody, The Comedy About Spies charges head first into the ridiculous, delivering a riotous new addition to the world of spy satire - one that audiences hungry for more are sure to devour.
The Comedy About Spies is running at the Noel Coward Theatre in London until Friday 5th September 2025.
To book tickets, visit www.mischiefcomedy.com/whats-on/the-comedy-about-spies/london/.
