Review: SPY MOVIE: THE PLAY!, The Hope Theatre

“Everything you’re about to see is entirely true”

As soon as you walk up the stairs into the Hope Theatre, you are greeted by one of the actors, who welcomes you to the show as he jams along to the jazzy spy music playing. Another actor is pacing back and forth around the space, scanning her script and making comments about “rewrites.” She then attempts to have a conversation with a fellow actor on the other side of the red curtains separating the audience from backstage, and this leads to some silly miscommunication.

It’s all very Mischief-esque, and it is not surprising to learn that the writers and directors, Matthew Howell and Jack Michael Stacey, are both involved in the company. But luckily for the audience, Spy Movie: The Play! is able to show that it’s more than just a spin-off of The Play That Goes Wrong - it’s darker, dirtier and more devious. 

Spy Movie: The Play! is in the style of a play within a play, in which the audience is given glimpses into the lives of those putting on the show along with the characters they portray. Emily Waters stars as The Writer, who has to make quite a few changes to her work in order to tell the story of “the greatest spy movie never made” by Ian Flemish (who is definitely not inspired by Ian Fleming). Waters is joined by Theo Toksvig-Stewart as The Producer, who is constantly schmoozing up to one of the audience members, “Gary,” who apparently has the funding to make the show bigger and better. The show is then performed by The Actor (Jack Michael Stacey) and The Actress (Jo Hartland), who have smaller roles outside of the play but still have some fun moments. 

The “greatest spy movie never made” revolves around the writer Ian Flemish (Stacey) and the real-life spy, Jane Blonde (Hartland, whose non-blonde hair makes for a great running joke). A group of villains known by the acronym of EVIW, led by Mr. Lovely (Waters) is using the adventures of Flemish’s main character, super-spy Dick Hardwood, as inspiration for their own evil schemes, and Flemish and Blonde must stop them before they get their hands on his latest work, Deep Pussy (a riff on Ian Fleming's Octopussy).

Hartland plays Blonde as the classic spy who is focused on righting the wrongs performed by Evil, a cool and calculated character who does her best to make puns, but tends to fail. One of the running gags with her character is that she never gets to say her catchphrase of “Blonde. Jane Blonde,” which leads to Hartland expressing frustration in a manner of ways. Though not much of her Actress character is explored, there is a great bit at the beginning of the show in which we hear a one-sided phone call where Hartland refuses to dye her hair or wear a wig for the show.

Stacey is hilarious as both Flemish, taking on the role of the clueless person thrown into the world of spies, and other characters. A highlight of the show involves him switching between two characters as they fight one another, with Stacey constantly jumping behind the curtain and frantically throwing his glasses on and off depending on who he is playing. 

Waters does a brilliant job as both The Writer and Dr. Lovely, seamlessly switching between being a narrator of the story and playing the role of the villain. She gets several chances to show off her physical comedy, one of the highlights of her performances in The Play That Goes Wrong. Even though it was one of her smaller roles, I adored seeing her as one of the scientists for EVIW, who, along with Toksvig-Stewart, questions the morality of creating “Totally Deadly Virus #4.” Speaking of Toksvig-Stewart, it is a delight to watch him play what feels like dozens of roles, which leads him at one point to literally be wearing multiple hats and doing a range of ridiculous accents.

If you’re going into Spy Movie: The Play! expecting a family-friendly show, you’ll be in for a bit of a surprise (in case you couldn’t tell from the name of Dick Hardwood in Deep Pussy). Many references to Dick’s name are made throughout the show, especially by his fans who make claims like “I would do anything for Dick” and “Too many people in the world need Dick.” The Producer is constantly breaking character to laugh at these jokes (I loved his line, “‘69. Now that’s good writing”), leading to frustration from The Writer and the performers. The CIA agent who joins forces with Blonde is named Randy Lust, which leads to several more innuendos. 

But the jokes aren’t just dirty - they’re a range of silly, stupid and smart, ranging from the spy headquarters password being “I’m a spy, but don’t tell anyone - it’s top secret” to Flemish being unable to see the different coloured wires because of the green night vision goggle lighting. Some of the best jokes are the dumbest ones, including when Blonde and Lust are reminiscing on a mission that involved three oil rigs - “Well, well, well . . .” There are also some funny miscommunications, like one about a mole in MI5, with different characters discussing moles they have on their bodies.

Several running gags return throughout the show that had me cracking up, including one where the characters repeat what The Writer is saying and another where all of the officials of MI5 have names starting with their rank like General Anxiety, Corporal Punishment, General Relativity (a guest of Einstein), and my personal favourite, General Exposition.

Spy Movie: The Play! continues to get sillier as it progresses, with more and more chaos unfolding both onstage and backstage to the delight of audience members. The silliness is aided by the simple yet great props, including using Barbie dolls for a ski chase down a mountain (the curtains) and a range of cut-out cardboard to represent things like houses and trees. The ending is absolutely bizarre and makes little sense, which, for this show, is perfectly logical. 

Ultimately, Spy Movie: The Play! is a fun parody play that will amuse fans of farcical comedies and dramatic spy novels alike. Howell and Stacey have used their Mischief experience to their advantage while also adding their own senses of humour, creating a unique work. 

Spy Movie: The Play! runs until 23 December at The Hope Theatre.

Photo Credit: Harry Bradley

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