The Comedy About Spies | Adelphi Theatre

“The name’s Bond. James….damn it, Bond!”

Mischief, the comedy troupe responsible for a host of shows including the long-running The Play That Goes Wrong and recent new musical Thespians, first presented The Comedy About Spies in the West End last year, and it now returns for a summer season at the Adelphi Theatre.

Writers Henry Lewis and Henry Shields, who both also appear in the production, drew inspiration from real-life Cold War stories for The Comedy About Spies, which also makes reference to numerous spy fiction classics. But even for those who are not superfans of the genre, there is plenty to laugh at right from the get go, as the show opens with a scene lampooning the trope of assigning secret agents single-letter code names.

From here, the real story unfolds: teams of agents from Russia’s KGB and America’s CIA are both seeking a rogue British agent who has stolen the plans to Project Midnight. With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, there is only one problem: these are some of the most incompetent agents ever to come out of their respective agencies.

They check into the Piccadilly Hotel, under the watchful eye of manager Albert Tipton (Greg Tannahill), where several other hotel guests become inadvertently embroiled in their schemes. Most notable among these guests are naive baker Bernard Wright (Henry Shields), who just wants a romantic evening with his girlfriend Rosemary (Adele James), and the actor (not the cricketer) Douglas Woodbead (Henry Lewis), who is preparing to audition for the part of ‘ooh seven’ off the back of his much-acclaimed turn in an advert for haemorrhoid cream. But who is the rogue agent? Probably the person you medium suspect…

Much of the first-half action takes place on set designer David Farley’s most impressive set-piece, a doll-house-like construction of four hotel rooms each themed in a different colour. Lighting by Johanna Town guides the audience’s eyes between the appropriate segments, as the cast move between the rooms in unexpected and hilarious ways.

As is the nature of comedy, not every joke will land with every audience member, and some sequences do feel overly strung out. Lewis and Shields’ script is at its best in its numerous callbacks, often giving the audience just long enough to forget a joke before resurrecting it (“Shiraz!”).

The Comedy About Spies also relies heavily on physical comedy, drafting in an entire suite of creatives for the energetic chase and fight scenes which litter the production. These have been finessed through the work of movement director Shelley Maxwell, fight director Greg Tannahill, fight consultant Kevin McCurdy, and stunts consultant Jami Reid-Quarrell. Music evocative of classic spy movies usually accompanies these scenes, courtesy of sound designer and composer Jon Fiber for Jollygoodtunes.

Most of the cast have returned from the 2025 run, with Bryony Corrigan taking over the role of Russian spy Elena Popova, and each performs their part to perfection. They not only excel in comedy, but through a combination of their performances, Lewis and Shields’ writing and Matt DiCarlo’s direction, succeed in genuinely moving the audience by the end of the show.

Perhaps the most impressive production in Mischief’s extensive catalogue, The Comedy About Spies well deserves its return to the West End. 

The Comedy About Spies runs at the Adelphi Theatre until 26th September. For more information and tickets, follow the link here.

★★★★★ (5*)

Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by Helen Maybanks