The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, UK Tour Review (2026)
Written by Charis for Theatre and Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review. All views are our own
David Eldridge’s adaptation of John le Carré’s revolutionary spy novel is the first theatrical adaptation more than 60 years after the book was created.
Written during the Cold War in 1963 and set in 1961, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold follows MI5’s Berlin station head, Alec Leamas. Already wishing to leave after a life of deceit and mourning the death of an agent he was handling, he is instead sent on a final mission to frame East German operative Hans-Dieter Mundt by planting the idea that he is a Western double agent. Leamas meets and falls for an idealistic, communist librarian, Liz Gould, which further complicates the mission.
La Carre’s writing poses that spies are simply actors, but ones who never get to drop their act, and Leamas is epitomically a man living this hell; he is forced to live an undercover life, caught between his new feelings for Liz Gould and his sense of duty to his wife, who had already left and remarried.
Ralf Little, as Alec Leamas, portrays a man who is so consumed by a life of necessary dishonesty that he can no longer tell the line between truth, both from himself and those around him. In the opening, as Leamas and Control, the spymaster talks, he is unable to admit his emotional turmoil over the death of a fellow agent and friend and his rage toward Mundt, and so is snatched away from his opportunity to “come in from the cold”. In this manner, Leamas is a tragic character, and the victim of circumstances he no doubt never predicted. All the other supporting actors interact with Lemmas well, and the small cast is able to carry the weight of the complicated piece dealing with heavy scenes and themes respectfully.
The physical reminder of the Iron Curtain through the Berlin Wall, ever present in the piece, was a clever way to demonstrate that the tension and danger were always present, serving as a physical reminder that for Lemas and spies overall, there is no off switch.
The show comes in at 135 minutes, including an interval, but did feel longer as parts were difficult to access or confusing. The piece is well-acted and staged, but it is not accessible to everyone. A high level of attention is required to keep up with a complicated and detail-oriented show. The location is not always clear, which can lead to confusion. Some of what’s happening is genuine, and some of it is Leamas’s thoughts, nightmares and false memories, which can be difficult to track. The non-stop dialogue is also rather dense and incredibly tense.
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold will be showing at the Alexandra Theatre until Saturday, 4 July as part of a UK tour.
★★★★
