I am not a fan of musicals, and neither is the writer of Operation Julie.

However, when Geinor Styles heard the true story that this musical is about, she knew it was the perfect premise.

Operation Julie is about a real police drugs bust in the 70s in Wales, but linked to Wiltshire.

In the small town of Tregaron, Richard Kemp dreams of changing the world through the mind-expanding powers of his potent LSD, saving humanity from self-destruction.

Meanwhile, a dealer, Alston ‘Smiles’ Hughes, is importing and selling the same drug from London.

The police, convinced that they must be working together to ship the hallucinogenic drug around the world, set up an undercover operation to catch them.

Disguised as hippies and birdwatchers, police based out of Devizes try to integrate themselves into the drug ring, before eventually locking them up (in Swindon for a time).

Styles interviewed the real-life Smiles, who served five years in jail, and was sat in the Swindon Wyvern watching his life be acted out.

There are multiple stories to tell within this plot: not only is there the attempt of the police to integrate with 70s counterculture, ripe with absurd consequences, there is also Kemp’s lofty ambitions to save the world with psychedelics.

Finally, there is the story of Smiles. While police were convinced Kemp and Smiles were working together, there is no evidence they were.

While we hear something of Kemp’s story, we do not know anything of Smiley.

This might be for the best, as the play already feels stuck between the poignant tale of one man’s dashed dream to change the world and a slapstick story of police incompetence.

In my opinion, it could have done better to focus on one or the other of these two. 

As it is the police operation story feels a bit rushed, only being introduced towards the end of the first act and for me was not shown in a satisfying amount of detail.

What worked best was the music: covers of classic prog-rock tunes which act as more of a soundtrack than telling the story like most musical numbers do.

The live music was all played by the actors, obviously a talented group of singers and musicians.

With a true story like this with so many interesting parts, the play felt torn between telling all of them. However, the music and unique subject made this an entertaining night nonetheless.

Operation Julie visited the Wyvern Theatre from May 9-11. For tickets for future shows, visit trafalgartickets.com/wyvern-theatre-swindon