The Stage

Mincemeat

Published Monday 22 June 2009 at 14:40 by Catherine Usher

Based on the true story of an Allied secret mission during the Second World War, which was revisited in the 1954 book, The Man Who Never Was, Mincemeat is an intriguing and harrowing tale.

Played out in the spacious and imaginatively transformed Cordy House, the audience is led from room to room and treated to a variety of atmospheric settings such as an office-themed heavenly waiting room and the ravaged East End during the Blitz, and is even encouraged to huddle in an air raid shelter among the actors while they continue with the story.

Although there are a few “false starts” to the narrative - a ploy presumably intended to make the audience reflect on which are the truthful and fleshed out elements of the story, once the play gets going, it enthrals.

As amiable Major Martin, Ifan Meredith is convincing as the perplexed and increasingly outraged dearly departed, trying to understand who he is and why he died. Robert Gillespie is a strong and authoritative anchor to proceedings as Charlie, Martin’s charismatic guide, a character reminiscent of the spirits in A Christmas Carol.

The fact that some of the members of Cardboard Citizens - the UK’s only homeless people’s professional theatre company - have experienced similar moments of despair to Martin’s fills their interpretation with particular resonance. But even without that element, it is an immensely moving production that ought to be widely viewed.