Author: Graham Greene
Adapted by: Clive Francis
Director: Philip Wilson
Venue: Arts Theatre Cambridge
Performance: 1st September 2026
Disappointing production with comic moments few and far between
Everything was in place to make Our Man in Havana a comedy experience in the vein of The 39 Steps or Operation Mincemeat. Presented in a similar style, four actors play a multitude of characters in what should be a fast-paced and inventive comedy.
The set and lighting are excellent, but somehow the dialogue feels stilted and many of the jokes fall flat during the first half. The constant narration also slows the action down, and at times one wonders why events were being told rather than shown. Things improve considerably after the interval, as the cast appear to find their stride – or perhaps the increasingly dramatic plot simply provided more momentum. Either way, the laughs began to land and the audience seemed much better entertained.
Jack Ashton plays our protagonist, Wormold, a vacuum cleaner salesman living in 1950s Havana with his demanding teenage daughter, Milly. Wormold is recruited into MI6 and, with no experience of espionage and unable to uncover any genuine intelligence, invents an entire network of agents and fabricates their reports to earn extra money.
His increasingly impressive intelligence reports and weapon images (based on vacuum cleaner parts) soon catch the attention of the MI6 hierarchy in London, who send him a secretary, Beatrice, with whom a romantic relationship develops.
Unfortunately, Wormold’s imaginary reports begin to create very real suspicion within the ‘enemy’ intelligence services, and he and his fictional agents soon find themselves in genuine danger.
There are some excellent performers here, but with so much rapid chopping and changing between characters, it is sometimes difficult for the audience to work out who is who. The exception is Jodie Steele, who plays all the female roles superbly, differentiating each character through perfectly judged accents, costumes and movement.
For the male characters, however, the distinctions are not always as clearcut. At times, it is difficult to tell whether we are watching Wormold’s friend Dr Hasselbacher or one of his murderous fellow vacuum cleaner salesmen.
There is undoubtedly plenty of potential in this adaptation, and the premise is wonderfully absurd, but this production never quite achieves the comic momentum or consistent hilarity that its format promises.
