The Comedy About Spies Turns Cold War Farce Into Mischief Theatre’s Sharpest Joke Machine Yet at the Adelphi

The Comedy About Spies | Adelphi Theatre until 26 September 2026

Mischief Theatre’s spies go rogue, and this time the joke lands nearly every minute.

The Comedy About Spies is back in the West End, playing at the Adelphi Theatre until September 26th. From Mischief Theatre, the company behind hits like The Play That Goes Wrong, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, and The Comedy About a Bank Robbery, this production won the WhatsOnStage Award for Best New Play.

This is a revival; I saw it last year at the much smaller Noël Coward Theatre. This limited eight-week season brings it to a considerably bigger venue. Set in 1961, in the pre-Bond world of Cold War espionage, the plot follows a rogue British agent who has absconded with plans for a top-secret weapon. This sends CIA and KGB spies converging on a London hotel to retrieve it, inadvertently dragging in a hapless actor chasing the role of a lifetime and an engaged couple.

It is absolutely fabulous. I confess I’m in the minority regarding the “goes wrong” style of comedy; I generally don’t find it particularly funny, often thinking, “that would never have happened,” or “they’d have stopped it by now.” However, this play manages to have its cake and eat it too.

At the hotel, an actor is convinced he has a shot at playing James Bond, certain that his Scottish rival will never get the part. There’s also a hapless baker who wants to propose to his girlfriend. All these elements contribute to a full farce setup of misunderstandings, mistaken identity, and double agents.

It features much of what Mischief Theatre is famous for: physical comedy, a dynamic set moving on and off, up and down elevator shafts, and people falling through floors. Yet, it’s all skilfully held together by a real plot.

It’s a cliché to say it’s invidious to single out individual cast members, but it is indeed true here. The production features many original members of The Mischief Company, including Bryony Corrigan, Dave Hearn, Adele James, Chris Leask, Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, Greg Tannahill, and Nancy Zamit. They all exhibit exemplary physical and verbal dexterity, managing with incredible energy to keep the show moving at a phenomenal pace!

The play even reaches an emotional conclusion, which is rare for this company and a lovely coda. It’s what elevates this from a series of sketches or the joke-a-minute chaos of something like Airplane! And there are plenty of jokes, almost one a minute, so if one doesn’t land, another follows instantly. My particular favourite: the baker, at one point, simply announcing, “I’m in bread.”

The move to the Adelphi provides a considerably bigger stage than the show had before. Honestly, it worked slightly better in the smaller space at the Noël Coward. Nevertheless, it plays well here too, and the sound design is excellent, you catch every line of dialogue. Given its limited run, a larger venue to accommodate more audiences makes perfect sense.

Four stars for a fabulous farce that had me laughing from start to finish, and, unexpectedly, moved me at the end too.

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[Image Credits | Mark Senior]

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