14 – 18 April
As one of the most popular spy novels of all time, John Le Carré’s third story, 1963’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, tells the tale of British intelligence officer Alec Leamas, a burned-out spy who is dispatched by “Control” to Cold War Berlin as a faux defector for one last mission to flush out a top East German Stasi operative. Written as tensions between the Soviet Union and the West were escalating, the tale reflects Le Carré’s own conflicting moral experiences of the secret services at a time when espionage on both sides of the Cold War was cynical and morally ambiguous. The novel was an instant hit, selling millions of copies and spawning an acclaimed film noir version just two years later, starring Richard Burton. Yet despite the enormous popularity of Le Carré’s books, and subsequent film and television adaptations such as recent hit The Night Manager, it has taken six decades for us to see a stage production of any of his works.
Having enjoyed several cameos in film adaptations, Le Carré himself instigated and approved this belated transition from page to stage shortly before his death in December, 2020. The resulting play, adapted from the novel by David Eldridge and directed by Jeremy Herrin, premiered in August 2024 to immediate theatrical acclaim. Tonight, it was easy to see why. Audiences arrive to be greeted by a minimalist bare stage, inhabited only by a crashed bicycle with perpetually turning front wheel, a sinister and uncomfortable mood established even before the story begins. A familiarity, if not with a synopsis of the actual plot, but the historical and political context of the Cold War itself, may help the audience to absorb what is quite a dialogue-heavy production, especially in the first act where a number of blanks in the exposition need to be filled. Much of this is achieved for us by the use of Leamas as a quasi-narrator in the opening scenes, played here by the excellent Ralf Little who injects energy and an impressive stage presence into a demanding lead role but who is supported by a talented ensemble cast, most notably Grainne Dromgoole as Liz Gold, a young Jewish Communist with whom Leamas develops a relationship and by Tony Turner as George Smiley, Leamas’ mentor and a recurring character in his conscience as well as other Le Carré tales. Peter Losasso is impressive too, providing menace as Leamas’ nemesis Mundt, not least in a gripping and very convincing torture sequence which is hard to watch.
The production is lent a slick pace by keeping scene transitions and staging to a minimum, with Max Jones’ clever design harnessing the entire cast in beautifully choreographed, almost balletic, scene and prop changes. The whole story is set in the year following the construction of the Berlin Wall as the Iron Curtain descended across Europe, hinted at throughout the performance by a barbed wire-topped back wall before its clever use in the dramatic dénouement. The map of Europe painted onto the stage on which all the action takes place is, curiously, only effective for those not in the stalls. However, Azusa Ono’s deliciously noirish lighting accentuates the dark and shadowy nature of Cold War espionage and overall the production impresses visually and technically as well as narratively.
Sixty years has done nothing to diminish the power and relevance of Le Carré’s work as we find ourselves in a world riven by worsening conflicts, intractable wars, moral ambiguity and endless political manoeuvring. This prescient production has been worth the wait.
★★★★☆ Tony Clarke 15 April 2026
Photography credit: Johan Persson
