Spy Movie: The Play! - Norwich Playhouse (29.04.2025)

Displaying a clear love for the Bond franchise, Spy Movie: The Play! is a chaotic, silly, and frequently hilarious send-up of the spy movie genre.

The premise, which matches the set for its flimsiness, is that after a series of walk-outs and budget cuts, a film producer (Matthew Howell) convinces what's left of his production team, the writer (Katy Daghorn), actress (Jo Hartland), and stuntman (Jamie Watterson) into staging a ramshackle version of their Jane Blonde thriller, with the hope of securing funding to make a movie.

With no budget for special effects, party poppers are used for explosions, Barbie dolls recreate dramatic falls, and even the iconic MGM lion is given the no-frills treatment.

With just four performers, each of the charismatic cast dons countless numbers of hats throughout the show in order to adopt a different character, in what is often a frantic and well choreographed piece. But therein also lies a problem - with little more than a hat to distinguish between roles, it is sometimes confusing as to what's happening.

The key problem though is the run time and lack of killer material. Two and a half hours (including the interval) felt too long for a play that had already begun to run out of ideas by the time the interval arrived. This felt like a one-act Fringe show that had been stretched too far, with a number of regurgitated gags in the second half, ideas pinched from The 39 Steps, and a set that made use of barely half the Playhouse stage.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the often brilliant wordplay and great Bond-esque one-liners, not to mention Matthew Howell's energetic, Rik Mayall-like performance in particular, I felt the whole thing could benefit from a bit of a trim and just a touch more polish.

Spy Movie: The Play! continues at Norwich Playhouse until 30 April 2025, before heading out on a national tour.