Superb Strangelove on Stage
“Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face.”
General Ripper
“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room.”
President Muffley
When Stanley Kubrick’s film Dr Strangelove was released in 1964, it had an alternative title of How I learned to stop worrying and learned to love the bomb. It was at the time of increased international tension; the Cuban Missile Crisis was only settled 18 months earlier. It was a satire on the nuclear arms race and the powers that controlled it.
However perhaps what is even more worrying is that the circumstances for the starting of a nuclear war are still with us today. The story relates to a minor incident, a United States General (John Hopkins) loosing grip with reality, with devastating consequences that could not be stopped. World War One was started by one man killing an Austrian Archduke resulting in the ultimate death of over 40 million people, so perhaps not so improbable.
This is not a bleak play but rather a sharp biting comedy that follows closely the original story. It opens with a group of uniformed military men marching and singing “Try a Little Tenderness”, a witty visual oxymoron. A recurring song, “Johnny Comes Marching Home” is sung often demonstrating the jingoism and ultimate blind obedience of the military. Vera Lynn (Penny Ashmore) sings “We’ll Meet Again” later.
In the film, and now in the play, much of the satirical humour comes from the lead actor being called on to play three of the important parts; Group Captain Mandrake a British RAF Officer, President Merkin Muffley US President and Dr Strangelove, probably an ex-Nazi scientist, now living in America, who as part of his research amputed his own arm and a leg. “One can’t experiment on other people anymore”. An additional role for Coogan is Major TJ Kong pilot of a B52 nuclear bomber.
Making a film over many weeks gave Peter Sellars plenty of time to change his three characters but this is live theatre. Steve Coogan takes all four of the parts and to his great credit, and that of the Director Sean Foley and Illusionist Chris Fisher, changes costumes as quick as the eye can follow. This is the heart of the play: Coogan’s great comic timing and acting ability.
John Hopkins is impressive as the increasingly deranged General Jack D Ripper who is the commander of an Air Force base who decides that his bomber wing should nuke major parts of Russia because of fluoridation in the drinking water. The President finds out, in the War Room, that due to a number of preset plans that he had not been told about he could not order the planes back without the codes that Ripper has and he has put the base on lockdown.
The President has to try and convince the Russian President Kissoff that this is all a mistake but mutual distrust is always there. General Turgidson (a brilliant Giles Terera) plays his part to the hilt in the War Room switching between hawk and dove as the wind blows.
One of the blackly humorous issues is deciding, to appease the Russian Premier, for the retaliatory bombing the Russian city is which American city they would wipe out for him – only 20M dead better than 250M if all-out war is to be avoided. This is still called by the acronym MAD – Mutual Assured Destruction.
Steve Coogan needs to take much of the credit for his precise characterisations. His English Group Captain wheedles with General Ripper, his President is a rational diplomat and his Dr Strangelove is all the more sinister for his quiet presence struggling with suppressing the elevation of his right limbs. The pilot role of the bomber, originally taken by Slim Pickens, has Coogan with Texan hat flying his plane like a rodeo rider.
The script co-adapted by Armando Iannucci and Sean Foley with the consent of the Stanley Kubrick Estate is sharp and funny and in some ways an improvement on the film. The production photos are by Kubrick’s nephew Manuel Harlan. The sets change quickly and simply, credit to Hildegard Bechtler and the B52 Cockpit bomber is great with the video skyscape. It would be easy to describe the entire plot but it would be a shame to miss what is an excellent, funny entertaining play well put together and is well worth seeing. Do not miss this acting Masterclass from Steve Coogan
Musical Numbers
Try a Little Tenderness
Johnny Comes Marching Home
Blue Suede Shoes
We’ll Meet Again
Production Notes
Dr Strangelove
Original Authors Stanley Kubrick, Terry Southern, Peter George
Adapted by Sean Foley, Armando Iannucci
Directed by Sean Foley
Cast
Starring:
Steve Coogan
Giles Terera
John Hopkins
Ben Deere
Ben Turner
Daniel Nor-ford
Dharmesh Patel,
Mark Hadfield
Oliver Alvin-Wilson
Richard Dempsey,
Tony Jayawardena
Adam Sina
Alex Stoll
Penny Ashmore
Mabli Gwynne,
Tom Kelsey
Creatives
Director: Sean Foley
Movement : Lizzie Gee
Designer: Hildegard Bechtler
Musical Director: Candida Caldicott
Composers and Sound Design : Ben Ringham, Max Ringham
Lighting Designer: Jessica Hung Han Yun
Illusions : Chis Fisher
Video/projection designer: Akhila Krishnan
Fight Director: Bret Yount
Information
Running Time: Two hours 15 minutes including an interval
Booking until 25th January 2025
Address:
The Noël Coward Theatre
85-88 St Martin’s Lane
London WC2N 4AP
Telephone: 0844 482 5151
Website: noelcowardtheatre.co.uk
Tube: Leicester Square
Reviewed by Malcolm Beckettt at the Noël Coward
on 29th October 2024
