The Comedy About Spies Reviews: What the Critics Say

Mischief's 1960s spy farce opened at the Noël Coward in April 2025 and returned to the Adelphi from 1 August to 26 September 2026, the same production with the same cast. The critics averaged four stars, and not one of them went below three.

The Critics' Verdict

The spread was narrow, and the narrowness matters more than the average: nobody hated it and nobody called it a masterpiece.

What almost every review praised was the machinery rather than the story. The words that recur are timing, precision and construction.

Clive Davis in The Times called Matt DiCarlo's production "a miracle of comic timing and ensemble acting". Patrick Marmion in the Daily Mail was in awe "at how it's possible to devise something so complicated... and actually pull it off on stage", and called it "slick as an oil spill on an ice rink".

The most useful line came from a sceptic. Nick Curtis in the Evening Standard, four stars: "it made me laugh out loud more often than just about anything else I've seen in the last 12 months. The fans will love it: I and other sceptics may be converted."

What the Reviews Praised

The construction. Greg Stewart at Theatre Weekly, five stars: "the real magic lies in punchlines set up several scenes earlier, making the payoff all the more rewarding."

The cast. Aliya Al-Hussan at LondonTheatre, five stars: "The cast is tight, with a zany energy. The chemistry is palpable."

The set. David Farley's design splits the hotel into a doll's-house cross-section. The Times called it "a joy, the scenery changes unfurling like a succession of Russian dolls."

The pace. Ryan Gilbey in The Guardian was "crying helpless tears of laughter within the first five minutes."

Where Reviews Were Mixed

Both three-star reviews landed on the same criticism, independently: the mechanics are better than the material.

Alun Hood at WhatsOnStage: "The material is weaker than the structure and mechanics", and it is "seldom as inspired as the best of the '...Goes Wrong' franchise."

Holly O'Mahony at The Stage: "while the physical comedy is impeccably executed, the bare-bones story it's running on will leave some craving a little more substance." She added that "it doesn't make you think and you'll see the jokes coming before they land."

The clearest warning is inside a four-star review. Dominic Cavendish in The Telegraph: "if you don't have a penchant for running gags flogged to death, rampant mugging, cheap sight gags and corny word-play then you may not be the ideal audience here." He still finished by saying "it takes near genius to fashion something this incorrigibly goofy."

On the wordplay, The Guardian noted that so much of the script runs on homophones that "even the most tolerant viewer may become homophone-phobic."

On the set, the praise divides. The Guardian called the first-act design "glorious" but thought it "grew fussy and over-dressed in act two."

What Audiences Say

Audiences rate it higher than the critics did: better than nine in ten across a thousand-odd public reviews, against a critical average of four out of five.

The thin-story criticism that cost it its two three-star reviews does not come through in the audience reaction. Where audiences do grumble it tends to be about the building rather than the production.

Who Was The Comedy About Spies For?

It suited you if you wanted to laugh for two hours and are not looking for anything underneath it. Every critic, including the two least impressed, agreed the comedy is executed properly.

It suited you if you had never seen a Mischief show. The reviewer who enjoyed himself most was the one who arrived expecting not to.

It was not for you if you find running gags and puns wearing. The Telegraph said so plainly at four stars, and The Stage said you will see the jokes coming.

It was not for you if you wanted a story. Two critics said the plot is the weakest part, and neither was being unkind about it.

The Adelphi run ended on 26 September 2026. The story, the cast and whether it is coming back are on our Comedy About Spies page.

Sources

Theatre Weekly · LondonTheatre · Daily Mail · Evening Standard · The Times · The Telegraph · The Guardian · Time Out · the i · BroadwayWorld · LondonTheatre1 · WhatsOnStage · The Stage