The Spy Who Came In From The Cold Tickets

Step back into the Cold War era with this dark, thrilling adaptation of the best-selling 1963 spy novel, where an undercover spy is forced to tackle moral dilemmas while staying alive during a deadly mission. John Ramm and Rory Keenan star as John Le Carre’s iconic spy characters Smiley and Lemeas.

Why should you see The Spy Who Came in from the Cold?

• Named one of TIME Magazine’s top 100 novels of all time, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is the quintessential spy story by one of the greatest postwar novelists.
• This play takes you right back into the Cold War, an era characterised by dizzying backdoor politics and covert warfare, tackling themes that feel stirringly relevant today.
• Full of twists and turns, secrets and betrayals, this story will have you on the edge of your seat throughout, whether you’re a fan of Le Carre or new to the genre.

What is The Spy Who Came in from the Cold about?

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold is based on the 1963 Cold War era spy novel by John Le Carre. After an assignment gone wrong, British intelligence officer Alec Leamas is charged by his boss, George Smiley, with a deadly undercover mission into East Germany to pose as a faux defector. But the mission is not all it seems and Leamas soon learns that there may be heroes and villains on both sides.

The play now makes its West End transfer after a sold-out run at Chichester Festival Theatre, where the Financial Times called it a ‘gripping adaptation, staged with moody flair’ and The Stage praised it as ‘stylish, cinematic’. Playwright David Eldridge (Beginning, Middle) and director Jeremy Herrin (A Mirror, People, Places and Things) come together to adapt this thrilling, incisive novel that shines a light on the darkest parts of the human soul. John Ramm (King Lear, Wolf Hall/Bring Up The Bodies) stars as Le Carre’s famous spymaster George Smiley and Rory Keenan (Somewhere Boy, The Regime) as the disillusioned spy Alec Leamas.

Described by Eldridge as ‘a strikingly relevant story for our times’, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold is full of twists and turns, capturing the moody, paranoid atmosphere of the Cold War, and packed with a searing commentary on the brutal realities of espionage and covert warfare. As the first, and hopefully not the last, Le Carre novel to be adapted for the stage, you won’t want to miss this sizzling, epic spy thriller.