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A Covert Affair

 
A. A. Lewis Review by A. A. Lewis 2 Published: 15 Aug 2025 theSpace on the Mile Show Dates: 11 Aug 2025-23 Aug 2025

There is much to admire in A Covert Affair. There is also much to be desired. I was instantly drawn to its synopsis: two operatives from opposite sides of the Iron Curtain locked in a game of seduction and espionage to exchange state secrets. The conflict is explicit from the start. These are spies whose national loyalties are tested by love, whose misdemeanours risk severe punishment, and who face constant threats in the tense setting of mid-century Budapest.

There is much to admire. There is also much to be desired

The premise offers all the ingredients for a high-stakes political thriller, echoing the romance and tragedy of a Cold War drama like Paweł Pawlikowski’s Cold War. The dangers are built in – perhaps so much so that the play largely leaves them unspoken. Absent are the local threats of the Hungarian secret police or the looming possibility of our lovers being caught, tortured, or killed. What the production most needed was greater world-building: importing historical and social detail from the period, or even just the streets of 1960s Budapest, to ground the dramatic stakes before moving us through a series of steamy interiors where differences between the lovers inevitably widen. Without that foundation, the hour-long narrative feels flat, and we have to be reminded that what the protagonists are doing is dangerous.

While the historical and ideological context is clumsy, the central performances offer much. Faced with a wooden script and lacklustre direction, the actors find a sense of pace and turn corny, misjudged jokes into moments of endearing awkwardness – subtly drawing the characters closer. By the final sequence, when the two dance together – which might have made a stronger closing moment – there is a genuine connection, an aura of longing. It is one of the few flashes of brilliance in A Covert Affair, and it makes the experience at least partially worthwhile.

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The Blurb:

Set in Budapest at the heart of the Cold War, two operatives have been tasked with a mission of seduction and espionage to swap state secrets. The two are monitored by their Wires, older agents who attempt to instill professionalism and discipline in their protégées. However, through several dates on their companies' cards, the two end up falling for each other and inadvertently give up every sensitive piece of intel they possess. Pursued by their organisations, the two must navigate a tricky tightrope of half truths and hope.