Le Carré on Stage as another Cold War Looms
“It’s a filthy, squalid procession of vain fools.”
Alec Leamas
It is a real pleasure to see a John Le Carré novel staged so effectively now @sohoplace after opening at the Minerva in Chichester in 2024. David Eldridge has written the masterly stage adaptation with his usual skill at perceptive and revealing dialogue, for this spy based thriller directed in a theatre noire style, by Jeremy Herrin. The plot features a washed out spy, whom British intelligence want to pose as someone with a drink problem, who could be turned by the East Germans to work for them.
After years working in Berlin, Alec Leamas (Rory Keenan) loses his best agent East German, Karl Riemeck (Mat Betteridge), who is killed while riding a bicycle. Back in London Leamas is set up in a job as a library assistant working for the frosty Miss Crail (Norma Atallah) and where he meets Liz Gold (Agnes O’Casey). Liz Gold is a member of the Communist Party and Jewish but she asks Alec to dinner and he is smitten. The way British Intelligence works is to keep its agents apart and unaware of each other so that even under torture they cannot reveal the names of other spies.
Alec Leamas’s Control (Ian Drysdale) issues instructions to him but it is the enigmatic George Smiley (John Ramm) who is in charge of the section from his Cambridge Circus headquarters. Alec gets into a fight with a tradesman and is sent to prison. This is not the glamorous world of James Bond espionage but a dirty business in old grey mackintoshes. Control says, “We do disagreeable things so that ordinary people can sleep safely in their beds.”
On release from prison, Leamas is told that his target is an East German called Mundt (Gunnar Cauthary) and Leamas’s mission is to convince the East Germans that Mundt is a spy for the British. Leamas is sent to the Hague and to deposit large sums of money around Europe on specific days as if payment is being made by the British to an individual.
The plot continues with Leamas being taken to the German Democratic Republic where he is interrogated with water torture by Mundt. Leamas meets Fiedler (Philip Arditti) a German Jew. I shall not reveal any more of this suspenseful story except to say that there is an extensive courtroom scene overlooked by actors at the circle level where the prosecutor Kordon (John Ramm) accuses Leamas and the plot takes snaking and unexpected directions.
Jeremy Herrin uses the immersive surround space @sohoplace to perfection and although there is a deceitful thread, the clarity of this drama is unsurpassed. Asuza Ono’s lighting contributes to the whisky drenched, cigarette smoking atmosphere of betrayal. Max Jones’s production design on the map of Central Europe is minimalist with actors bringing in tables and chairs for differing scenes but with a final eye opening scene.
The performances are superb. John Ramm has George Smiley’s grasp and intelligence behind a non-remarkable appearance, Gunnar Cathary’s short, cruel and sinister Communist but ex SS Mundt, Agnes O’Casey’s Liz Gold’s idealism and genuine feeling for Leamas and Rory Keenan so welcome back to the stage perfectly cast as the believable man who might have a real drink problem.
I really loved this spot on Le Carré play and hope David Eldridge can be persuaded to adapt others. After @sohoplace it is on tour to many UK venues until late summer 2026 so please catch this production, Five stars from Theatrevibe, the site that doesn’t do stars!
Editor of TheatreVibe.co.uk
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Production Notes
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
Written by John Le Carré
Adapted by David Eldridge
Directed by Jeremy Herrin
Cast
Starring:
David Rubin
Gunnar Cauthery
Ian Drysdale
John Ramm
Mat Betteridge
Norma Atallah
Philip Arditti
Rory Keenan
Tom Kanji
Agnes O’Casey
Creatives
Director: Jeremy Herrin
Designer: Max Jones
Movement Director: Lucy Cullingford
Composer: Paul Englishby
Lighting Designer: Azusa Ono
Sound Director: Elizabeth Purnell
Information
Running Time:Two hours 15 minutes
Booking to 21st February 2026
Theatre:
@sohoplace
4 Soho Place
London W1D 3BG
Tube: Tottenham Court Road
Telephone: 020 384 09611
Access: 0330 3335962
Website: www.sohoplace.org
TOUR DATES
LEICESTER
Thu 12 – Sat 14 March Leicester Curve
MALVERN
Wed 18 – Sat 21 March Malvern Theatre
BROMLEY
Tue 24 – Sat 28 March Churchill Theatre
WOKING
Tue 31 – Sat 4 April New Victoria Theatre
CHELTENHAM
Tue 14 – Sat 18 April Everyman Theatre
EDINBURGH
Tue 21 – Sat 25 April Edinburgh Festival Theatre
CARDIFF
Tue 28 – Sat 2 May Wales Millennium Centre
SHEFFIELD
Tue 5 – Sat 9 May Sheffield Lyceum
LIVERPOOL
Tue 12 – Sat 16 May 2026 Liverpool Playhouse
RICHMOND
Tue 19 – Sat 23 May Richmond Theatre
GLASGOW
Tue 26 – Sat 30 May Theatre Royal Glasgow
BRIGHTON
Tue 2 – Sat 6 June Theatre Royal Brighton
YORK
Tue 9 – Sat 13 June Grand Opera House
NORWICH
Tue 16 – Sat 20 June Theatre Royal Norwich
NOTTINGHAM
Tue 23 – Sat 27 June Theatre Royal Nottingham
BIRMINGHAM
Tue 30 – Sat 4 July The Alexandra theatre
NEWCASTLE
Tue 7 – Sat 11 July Theatre Royal Newcastle
MILTON KEYNES
Tue 14 – Sat 18 July Milton Keynes Theatre
SALFORD
Wed 22 – Sat 26 July The Lowry
CAMBRIDGE
Wed 29 – Sat 1 Aug Cambridge Arts Theatre
BATH
Tue 11 – Sat 22 Aug Theatre Royal Bath
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge at the performance
@sohoplace
on 27th November 2025