The Comedy About Spies

From the 2025 Noel Coward Theatre production. Some actors have now left the cast.

(seen at the afternoon preview performance on 19th April 2025)

In 2019, Mischief Theatre had, what the monkey felt was, a disappointing season at the Vaudeville Theatre, London. New work seemed forced and repetitive.

Prior to that, “The Comedy About A Bank Robbery” was re-written so often that the monkey’s early published opinion was redundant within weeks. Despite the rewrites it never lived up to the longevity or fond appeal of earlier work, and it felt like the glorious originality of the plucky group of graduates who created jobs for themselves, and a global phenomenon, was over.

The lengthy break has done the team the world of good. The monkey is overwhelmingly delighted to announce that Mischief Theatre have grown up, matured, and now deliver a new show as good as “The Play That Goes Wrong” and “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” – perhaps even edging both for emotional depth and ingenious construction.

To reveal anything of Lewis and Shields’s insanely clever (insanely as a noun, not adjective) plot would be to spoil it for future audiences.

David Farley’s design is vibrant, Matt DiCarlo never wastes a movement or scene, and there has to be extra applause for the entire stage and technical team who keep the thing (almost always – stuck body) working with immaculate timing.

Many of the original cast return. Henry Lewis never fails to raise a laugh with a mere change of expression indicating a forming thought.

Henry Shields has deepened his character acting, realising that stillness is a powerful comedic weapon - and unleashing it on Adele James allows her to return fire with equal ability.

Nancy Zamit and Dave Hearn are a deeply bonded double-act in all senses. While it is a grave mistake to let Zamit sing (Hearn does his best, but), she brings terrific breadth to the relationship, making the final moments even more electric between the pair.

If Chris Leask and Charlie Russell as the other pairing deliver a Russian accent considerably more malodorous than melodious (the monkey is familiar with the real thing), they lean into the hilarious second act happenings with a gusto outweighing the first act confusion.

So, no spoilers. The awkward opening scene – trailed at the 2025 Royal Variety Performance – is now tighter and actually funny. A bit of a dip follows for 15 minutes, after that, fasten your seatbelts, loosen your jeans belts and let your bellies vibrate with the gales of laughter these hapless agents of mirth will generate.

The monkey advises checking performance times on your tickets and that performances are happening as scheduled, before travelling.

Notes:
6th August 2026 at 7pm

No 2.30pm performances on 1st and 5th August 2026.
Extra 7pm performance on 9th August 2026.

FROM 1st SEPTEMBER 2026
Tuesday to Friday at 7.30pm
Saturday at 2.30pm and 7.30pm
Sunday at 2.30pm and 7pm

Extra 2.30pm performance on 24th September 2026.

Venue Box Office & Current Prices

Ticketpipe

LoveTheatre.com

Lovetheatre.com. Charge around 10% booking fee per ticket. They are owned by Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) and often have good deals on shows at ATG venues.

See Tickets

See Tickets. Charge around 10% booking fee per ticket, plus £2.75 per booking (not per ticket) postal charge. They are owned by ticketing group Eventim.

Ticketmaster

Ticketmaster.co.uk. Charge around 8% to 10% booking fee per ticket. Handling fees may also be added. This is the largest ticketing agency worldwide.

TodayTix

TodayTix. Charge between 10% and 20% booking fee per ticket. Discounts are often available as this is a large global ticketing company with this specific aim.

London Theatre Direct

Londontheatredirect.com. Charge between 10% and 25% booking fee per ticket. Discounts are frequently available. Part of Trafalgar Theatre Group, known for customer service and unique offers.

LW Theatres

www.lwtheatres.co.uk - the theatre group's own website provide the service for the Cambridge, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Gillian Lynne, London Palladium and His Majesty's Theatre.

They normally do not charge a booking fee, and Their site allows seat selection and provides a view of the auditorium too.