Review: EDINBURGH 2024: SPY MOVIE: THE PLAY!, Pleasance Courtyard

Spy Movie: The Play!, written by Matthew Howell and Jack Michael Stacey, is “The Greatest Spy Movie (n)Ever Made.” The show has quite the interesting (and meta) concept - what we are going to see is meant to be seen on the silver screen but, due to financial reasons, we are going to be seeing it staged as a play. It is the classic play-within-a-play concept with a new spin, which is quite refreshing. 

We are given an introduction to the work by the writer and director (Howell and Emily Waters), who choose a member of the audience in the front row to portray “Gary,” a producer who has come to see if the show is worth financing. We are also introduced to the show’s sponsor, Michael Mulaney’s Used Car Dealership, whose catchy jingle will be played multiple times throughout the show. 

Stacey plays Ian Flemish, the creator of beloved spy Agent Dick Hardwood (yes, there are going to be jokes about this) who stars in novels like Definitely Time to Die Agaain Maybe. Stacey is joined by Jo Hartland as Jane Blonde, a real-life spy who must work together with Flemish to save the world from the hands of EVIW (“Every Villain in the World,” pronounced as “evil” with a Cockney accent) and its ringmaster, Mr Lovely (Waters).

Fans of Mischief Theatre and its “Goes Wrong” productions may see a few familiar faces in the cast. Both writers, Stacey and Howell, were in The Play That Goes Wrong in 2019 and then toured with Peter Pan Goes Wrong in 2023, with Howell also being in the production on the West End. Waters was in the 2022-23 West End cast of The Play That Goes Wrong. Hartland is the only one with no Mischief credit to her name but she fits right with the group and its sense of comedy. 

Having seen and reviewed the play back in December of 2023, I was curious to see how much (if at all) the play had changed. There is more of a focus on the story itself, with less conversations between the writer and the producer. Many of the highlights I had previously noted remain the same, including Howell taking on many hats (sometimes quite literally) to play minor characters and the appearance of some truly terrible (in the best way) puns and visual gags. Some of the best moments come from the simplest props, including an “exact replica” of St Andrews Links, a “window” on a train, signs to indicate where we are and an RC helicopter that flies above the audience in a dramatic escape scene.

Even though the show is “suitable for the whole family,” there are plenty of jokes about Agent Dick Hardwood that one would come to expect with a character having a name like that. A highlight includes a dramatic speech in which someone declares, “Too many people need Dick.” There is also another character with an interesting name - Randy Lust, the CIA double agent, whose appearances tend to lead to the more suggestive innuendos throughout the show. 

Ultimately, Spy Movie: The Play! is a delightfully simple and simply delightful show for all ages that will appeal to not only fans of the spy genre but fans of comedy as a whole. The performers are all fantastic and work incredibly well together, making for a solid hour of laughs. 

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