Dr Strangelove

Dumbed down, pumped up, this cold war farce shows what happens when the nuclear arms race goes sideways. As the political temperature rises in the Middle East and Ukraine, Armando Iannucci’s timely adaptation of the 1964 Stanley Kubrick film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb comes to the West End. While the movie had its star Peter Sellers take on three different roles, Steve Coogan here goes one better.

As the Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, an RAFofficer seconded to the USAF and stationed at Burpelson Air Force Base, he unsuccessfully attempts to thwart General Jack D. Ripper’s plan to launch nuclear missiles at Russia. As President Merkin Muffley, he is powerless to stop the bombers and calls on scientific advisor and ex-Nazi Dr Strangelove (also Coogan) to help. As bomber captain Major Kong, he overrides his crew’s increasing concerns about their mission, eventually (and very memorably) riding his plane’s nuke as it flies down.

It’s a mighty ask of any actor and director to carry this off without hitches or drags in the story but Coogan and Iannucci do well to keep things barrelling along. While the film was busy parodying the politicians and politics of the day, Dr Strangelove has a strong focus on fluid storytelling and dark humour. There are many callbacks (“You can’t fight in here,” says Muffley. “This is the war room.”) but this largely stands on its own two feet with a few modern references thrown in.

Hildegard Bechtler’s set swings us around from deep inside the White House to a military base and, most impressively, inside the cockpit of Kong’s B-52. Huge screens are used to either track the planes’ fatal progress as Muffley and his advisers watch on or create a credible sky backdrop for Kong and his flight crew.

That Coogan has comic chops to spare has never been in doubt but there’s enough distinction and conviction in his four roles to showcase his superb acting skills too. The almost entirely male cast around him are not as fleshed out but do well with what they have. Giles Terera is frankly wasted as the one-note General Buck Turgidson, the kind to shoot first and not ask questions later, an older and more senior (but not necessarily wiser) version of John Hopkins’ wickedly crazed Ripper. Tony Jayawardena has as much fun playing the onlooking Russian ambassador Bakov as the play does using his name for humorous effect.

In lampooning the loud and boisterous actions of these imperfect men, this could be seen as a continuation of Iannucci’s acclaimed and much-missed The Thick Of It, albeit set in a different time and space. Some of the original film's deeper and darker moments are softened or played for laughs but, having said that, the director's trademark snappy patter, the exasperated exclamations and the heart-tugging portrayals of quiet despair are all here to admire and chuckle over despite the very real threat of Armageddon through war or climate change looming over us now as much as it did in the Sixties.

Dr Strangelove continues at Noel Coward Theatre until 25 January 2025.

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan