Operation Mincemeat is that plucky new show that made it big and winner of Best New Musical at this year's Olivier Awards. It's been on such an incredible, applaudable journey and one that should be heralded as a great success - especially in such a difficult time to create new theatre.

I'd like to preface this rant with making it extremely clear: I am not targeting anybody in particular, and am definitely not aiming this at cast members past or present, or SpitLip who created this incredible show. I don't know who, if anyone, is personally responsible for making any of the financial or ticketing decisions. But, on the off-chance they are reading, this is a breakdown of what the ticketing process comes across as to a fan of the show and indeed, theatre in general.

A huge part of Operation Mincemeat's success, aside from the brilliant product they have created, has been the fans. Some have been there right from the start at their fringe showcases and their off-West End stints. Some joined in the last year or so, and fell in love with the show while it made it big. And they returned, and returned, and returned and got more people into it. And created a dedicated Discord server garnering over 500 fans dubbed 'Mincefluencers', owing to their ability to recruit new supporters. They also went to lengths to find out information on the real-life Hester who is a character featured in the show. It's a fanbase like no other in the West End.

It just pains me, and others, how the recent ticketing system is fairing, particularly with regards how it impacts fans and potential fans alike. I'll try to detail it in vaguely chronological order to it occurring.

In its initial onsale, and very much against the grain, tickets weren't priced by where the seats were in the house. Instead, by popularity of day - Mondays were cheaper at £39.50, and across the week, gradually rising to £79.50 on Saturdays.

This soon rose to £89.50, and other days in the week increased by £10 too. This meant the back of the Upper Circle (partially restricted) was the same price as what's typically known as the 'premium' seats. And for those who are familiar with the small Fortune Theatre, they know this makes a huge difference (classic 1920s, limited legroom house).

Perhaps controversially, I don't think £89 or so is *that* bad for a top price seat to a West End show - especially if there's people willing to pay it due to only going to the theatre a handful of times a year - but less controversially, I don't think it should be the only price seat to a West End show either. Especially when the view from the seats and level of comfort really do vary.

So, for affordability, they run a fortnightly ticket lottery where the lucky winners can pick a bunch of seats over 2 weeks' worth of performances for £25. This practice, in some form or another, is fairly common among West End shows.

And then, last September. For reasons remaining largely unknown but attributed to "tickets going into the right hands" & "fair access for fans" because "it's not just loyal agents that are getting the tickets", they announced the Monday Ballot.

People can enter their email address, similar to the Lottery, and be in with a chance of securing tickets to a Monday performance where tickets are frozen at the week's cheapest price of £39.50. And specifically for when a new booking period is launched. Once again, against the grain of literally any other ticketing endeavour seen by the West End or theatre at large. And crucially, the Ballot is not a discount scheme like the Lotto - it's simply the chance to secure tickets for performances on these days at full price.

This Ballot has since extended to Tuesdays & Saturdays; both days have a matinee meaning 5/8 performances per week are drawn via Ballot. Initially, I thought this is super gatekeepy - not least because ticket prices are too high to encourage new people to the show - but why would you hide away tickets for the week's most popular day? And more importantly, how does this stop the bots that are implied to be taking the tickets away from "the right hands"?

The first Ballot for the new booking period (and the inclusion of Tuesdays & Saturdays) occurred today. The marketing tactic of letting people know they have just 24 hours to claim the tickets (at full price of £89.50 for Saturdays, remember - this is not the same as the discounted Lottery) came into force, and I clicked through to see what it was all about. And a few things occurred me:

The Ballot link expiring after 24 hours apparently doesn't mean anything. I've since learnt these tickets will go on general sale in 2 days, meaning it's effectively a Ticketmaster-esque presale for fans only. There's no rush to buy tickets unless there's a particular seat for a particular day you're desperate to secure. So ultimately, it's actually not gatekept tickets like it first seemed in the comms.

The prices from Wednesday onwards, for the new booking period, are £89.50. Prior to this, they'd been £69.50, then on Thursdays £79.50, and Friday onwards, £89.50. That's £20 extra per seat than before for Wednesdays, and £50 extra than seeing it on the Monday for cheaper (ironically, these performances are now more in demand.. I wonder if it's the price...). It just extremely puts into perspective how ridiculous it is to price it by day. Sure, try and encourage folks to see it on less 'popular' days, but there's got to be better ways to do this without pricing out most people?

And finally, it confirmed my concerns regarding the real reason behind the Ballot which I haven't yet shared:

3. The Ballot is effectively a data-farming exercise in order to get people's email addresses, and it's been dressed up as 'serving the fans'. Look, I take no real issue with creative ways of collecting data if people are opting in to do it. But it's the lack of clarity surrounding it - I know I'm not the only one who thought the 5 performances a week were going to be kept under Ballot and key. And the comms surrounding it were unclear (I doubt with malice): the 'winning' email makes it sound like we've got something exciting, and have a mere 24 hours to claim it, for it to just be on general sale in the same week... it's messy and confusing.

Maybe using the phrase "presale" isn't enticing enough for people to hand over their emails, and this is a better way to do it. And hats off if so, I'd hazard the majority of Mincefluencers are signed up to the Ballot.

Like ultimately, what does it matter? Why have I created this post to just detail how a random show has chosen to market itself?

I can't help but feel, despite the fans being a critical part of the show's success, there's constant ways to shut them out; between pricey tickets and schemes dressed up to look like they're being served, it feels unfair to those who have been following Operation Mincemeat for years. But also a disservice to the material of the show, which has been crafted with so much love. So many people would LOVE this show, but they're typically not the kind of people that would chuck £90 at something on the off chance they like it.

EDITED TO ADD: Some have said, perhaps correctly, that because the top price is £90 (a competitive rate compared to other shows!) they can justify selling the whole house at this rate, particularly as it's a small 400-seater. To that, I ask, why can't they sell the seats in price bands, instead of the days? Like every other show?

I'm led to believe there are concerns regarding access (not least because the Fortune Theatre cannot accommodate power wheelchair users), but the access scheme for tickets isn't akin to what other theatres offer. I'm not qualified to comment on this, but fans of the show have made this clear.

I have no real message here other than kindly asking whoever is responsible to consider how the ticketing choices made and subsequent communications comes across to fans, how the pricing is preventing future fans and why we consider the prices expensive.

We love Operation Mincemeat, but there's only so many times someone will throw £90 at something to experience it again, even when they desperately want to continue supporting the show. Or maybe not - I can't speak for everyone - Mincefluencers may still continue to pay it & Joe Public may not think £90 is a bad price.

Mincemeat have so many “for the fans” schemes: The Monday Ballot, mailing list and lottery and these are very inaccessible.

"You wrote a poem about me?"

Dónal Finn was such a perfect poor boy working on a song it's been days and I still can't stop thinking about it. Like. His lalalas/If It's True seriously rewired my brain.

First of all - why is the American accent so integral to the show?

If you’re talking about the general “aesthetics”, for want of a better word, of industrialisation and depression - very much a British thing just as much as an American thing.

If we’re talking about the musical style that typically comes from New Orleans Jazz movement, then yes whilst that does originate in America, definitely does not mean to say that you can now only…perform jazz in an American way??

Secondly, Hadestown is an inherently ethnically and geographically ambiguous story. Not forcing a standardised accent like they do on Broadway actually enhances the show. Hadestown is a message about love, hope, grief and despair (and so much more). Having the ability to see and hear so many different walks of life shows the humanity of the show, personalises the characters in a way that I think improves what Broadway has done.

Also saying (in the tags) that Eurydice sounds too harsh - first off, it’s just a northern/midland accent. Secondly, that “harshness” is very much in keeping with Eurydice’s character, someone who’s had a hard life, someone who’s run away and had people turn on her. That is harsh. It fits perfectly in my opinion.

please do not post bootlegs or links to them publicly!

i know you wanna share these videos with everyone, and that is super sweet of you, but posting these links publicly puts the people who film these videos at risk of real legal trouble - boots are illegal! - and could easily result in them no longer filming any more videos, as well as making their current videos private. keeping these videos safe helps ensure that more will come, and keeps the people who film them safe too! it’s also just respectful to these folks’ wishes, and respecting them is so important! they’re doing a huge service for us!

if you do have a video you want to share with your friends, please at least do so through dms, or any private platform. do not post them on tumblr, public discords, google drive, twitter, anything - just dm the link to your friend, keep it private and secure. however, there are also certain videos that the filmers do not want shared at all, even privately, and i’m asking you to please be respectful of their wishes too. these videos are only available from the person who filmed them themselves, and they’re the ones marked with “NFT” - meaning “not for trade”.

Historical accuracy? OK, then why no slurs against women, immigrants, and Jews, then? Why no racist language?

We can spend our time thinking about whether Morris and Pulitzer have said that in 1899 (definitely yes) and whether Jack would have said it about his best friend (yeah, he probably would have).

But I'm personally more interested in why the writers put it in the script in 2012. This is a play created by Disney to make a buck off high school drama programs. It is LESS gritty and less concerned with historical accuracy than the movie they made starring kids. But they think it's cool to say the c slur.

“cripple” was the language at the time. there’s no alternative anyone would’ve called crutchie. nobody thinks it’s cool to use the word, but it’s the only word to use - it’s relevant, it’s era-appropriate, it’s important. as is the misogyny that katherine faces, consistently mocked and doubted for being a woman in a male-dominated position and the only girl within this group of boys, they insult her, they laugh at and about her.

and, like you said, this is ultimately a disney property, they’re not going to throw around any more severe words against women on top of the less ham-fisted misogyny, and characters using racist or anti-immigrant language would just be egregious when it has no plot relevance, especially as these words truly were and are slurs, unlike "cripple" which was truly the closest they had to medical terminology at the time, perjorative as it could be.

also, saying the script was written "to make a buck off high school drama programs" is wild when the show ran on broadway. it just ran in london. it's had countless other professional runs all around the world. it's by no means relying on drama programs, and the script itself has faith in the adults and teenagers performing and watching it to understand the nuance necessary to a half-decent plot, and the necessity of faithfully representing the opinions and language of the time when telling a historical story.

Why? I am glad you asked!

Now listen dont get me wrong here!

Representation is so important especially for religions because in that department even the most popular ones r being bullied these days and then that religion isnt just any but the most hated one in history. The religion that was blamed for practically anything bad that has happened in the last 500-1000 years. In ww|| children didn’t even know this WAS a religion. In Germany they were taught that the word “jew” stood for a monster, like the wird rabbit stands for an animal. Idk if this makes sense but they LITTERALLY didn’t know any better which i personally find makes it worse. The ppl KNEW that they were wrong, and that they couldn’t convince poursouled children of anything unless they made up lies. The thing those children hated was justified. Anyone would hate a monster that only brings evil upon us. But they conected it to a name that describes something else.(the movie jojo rabit brings this accross extremely well and truthfull! It’s available on netflix and i think on prime!) And thats the problem. They knew they were wrong but they needed someone to blame for their own failures and problems. ANd WhO bEtTeR tHaN tHe OnEs ThAt HaVe BeeN aT bLamE fOr ThE pAsT 700 YeaRs???

This began with the germanians spreading Christianity around Europe when jews were still a majority. It was generally a seen as a sin to get along with a Christian, and as we all know in the middle age there have been some babaric events towarts (but also by) religious ppl.

In thirteen-sixty-something the thing got to a whole new level when in (i think it was italy but idk) a fountain was moisted with bacteria and brought back black plague for a lot of people, which obviously got word all around the world quickly. And with that obviously also rumours. The thing is that those rumors were LOADED.

Thats how the hatred toward jews specifically began. People thought they were witches that poisoned their food causing them all to get sick.

(Sry i didnt mean for this to turn into a history lesson hahaha)

So yeah. Representation is so important and I totally stand behind that!

That being said however i genuinely don’t like it with Davey and here’s why:

It just feels sooo cliche taking the one character named david jacobs and saying he’s jewish.

I mean

Seriously

David jacobs

David. Jacobs.

David and jacob (lemme guess his sisters name is sarah hAHa- oh wait-)

Like it might be just me but that’s loaded with stereotype.

This might sound weird and/or mean but i genuinely get the feeling, the only reason ppl hc him as jewish is his name.

On top of that theres the fact that i generally just feel like its forced at this point. Again. I stand for representation with everything in me. but people just decided (rather than felt/knew) they needed to represent jewish folks and picked out ONE (1) (s i n g u l a r) character (LITTERALLY NAMED DAVID JACOBS!! Idk if u can tell but im getting rly worked up abt this)and said his family is jewish.

(Then if course theres the fact that i cant deal with the fact that he would have been killed at least in wa|| if not earlier due to being an non-arian jew but he prolly would be killed in one of the worldwars anyway so thats not much of an argument lol)

THATS IT! TYSM if u read this completely!

I also wanna take the opportunity to compell everyone to support palestina!!!!! I’ll put some links down below!

As a Christian i am lucky enough to not be bothered with shit by people i cant deal with but not everyone has that! So here’s just a gerneral reminder to educate and support people of any minority!!!

I will put some links so u can read up about the history of discrimination towards religion and jews!⬇️⬇️

1 Wikipedia article generally summarising antisemit!sm

2 definition

3 antisemit!sm+ history of rivalry between Christianity & Judaism

4 on discrimination and hate/ harassment towards religions in school and workplaces

5 discrimination WITHIN religion

6 some facts

7 using religion as an excuse to BE descriminating

8 read about judaism as a religion, rules and beliefs

Here’s the Hard Promises script where Jack drops Davey and Les back home to ‘Jewtown’

Here’s the book where it states that Davey is Jewish and Jack is Irish.

It isn’t a stereotype for him to have been picked as the character because that’s how it’s always been, especially with Jewish actors, or people that have been raised by Jewish parents, having been picked to play him in the past (David Moscow 92sies, Ben Fankhauser livesies etc)