“Dr Strangelove” at Noel Coward Theatre – 22/10/24

Wow, we have been ever so stage-y this half term. Macbeth last Friday evening, Musical Con on Saturday and yesterday Eva and her BFF went to see “Heathers” in Oxford. I’m not reviewing that one because I was in the office in a state of pastry-induced hysteria. But she got to wear her Veronica outfit again and they had a wonderful time by all accounts.

What I am going to review tho, is the missing piece of the mega-theatre puzzle – the anniversary trip Nathan and I took on Tuesday night to see Steve Coogan in “Dr Strangelove”. Yes, just the two of us and no kids. I’d heard about the show through a well-targeted Facebook ad and bought tickets as a birthday present for Nathan. It’s almost 6 weeks after his birthday but he’s not complaining – it’s gone on for a really long time this year. I expect the same for my 45th.

It’s been a while since I saw the Kubrick film but I had a fairly good idea of what to expect. Steve Coogan began his career as an impressionist, I believe, and I vaguely remember his switching of characters on “Coogan’s Run” so if anyone can pull off four characters (one more than Peter Sellers!) it’s probably him. I’ve always enjoyed Armando Iannucci’s work as well so that made me think this would be a good play. Until I looked at the cast list after the show, I would not have clocked that Peter from the 1980s “Narnia” TV show was also in it but….he was. I think his character was the one who had to go and buy fresh fish for Bakov. You’ll know what I mean if you’ve seen it.

So, a familiar story but I was looking forward to seeing how they’d bring it to life. It can be hard to transition from screen to stage but we’d seen a battleship appear in Stranger Things so surely a B-52 wouldn’t be too tricky?

The play starts with a song – “Try a Little Tenderness”, which I believe was used for the opening credits of the film. Having characters singing it live made me wonder if it was actually going to be “Strangelove: The Musical”, which I wouldn’t object to but it might be a bit of a shift in mood. But then the curtain opened on the set of General Ripper’s office and from then on, it was apocalyptic screwball comedy all the way.

Steve Coogan is in pretty much every scene so this first one was when he was playing the uptight Brit, Captain Mandrake. As someone who’s built his career on awkward British types, this was a very natural fit and the interplay between him and the All-American General Ripper (John Hopkins) was delightful. There’s not much time to establish the characters before the situation escalates into all-out chaos but it’s deftly handled and there’s a sense of tightly-controlled panic, especially when Ripper pulls the gun out for the first time.

The action then shifts to the War Room at the Pentagon and the second of Steve’s characters – the President. This is more of a straight-man role so, although he does a convincing American accent and sets up the gags nicely, it’s not the best showcase for his skills. But it’s a good, neutral filling between the slightly crazier slices of bread either side – the physical comedy of Mandrake and, of course, the eponymous Doctor. We’ll get to him.

First though, a shout out to the set designers. The giant War Room table appears as if from nowhere, complete with glasses and other breakable things that suggest they had to be a bit delicate putting it into place. The set feels very Kubrick in nature and I think the table in the film was green, just like this one was. Of course, that was a detail that was slightly lost on the viewing public seeing as the film was in black and white but Stan was just that kinda man. The significance of the green is meant to be like they’re playing poker with humanity, which is a nice bit of symbolism. We were a bit too high up to properly see “The Big Board” but there were screens in the boxes on the side, which showed what was on it so we didn’t miss out. Like the Russian Ambassador, we studied them with interest.

I won’t go through every individual actor as this was a fairly large cast, compared with some we’ve lately. The War Room scenes are very much an ensemble piece, with all the different Chiefs contributing to the madness. General Buck Turgidson (Giles Terera) and the aforementioned Russian Ambassador (Tony Jayawardena) are probably the stand-out characters in these scenes as they clash so frequently and almost come to blows (prompting the immortal line “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here…this is the War Room”) . While these scenes were funny, I was almost distracted by watching for how they were going to swap President Coogan out for Dr Coogan. When it came to it, it wasn’t overly subtle…the President went to the back of the stage to make a call to the Vice President and remotely address a swimming gala. While his back is turned and he wanders in and out of view a few times, a wheelchair approaches from the left. To be fair, I don’t think it was ever meant to be a gasp-inducing illusion and it was done very smoothly. In fact, I didn’t notice the switch back and I really was watching out for it.

So, onto the titular character. Obviously the most extreme comedy character of the show and one that Steve Coogan was clearly having fun with. His German accent was a caricature but he kept it consistent and the jokes about his Nazi past were played with the right mix of shame and edginess. I wasn’t sure whether these kind of jokes would be acceptable in the age of trigger warnings but you can’t really have the character without them. I don’t think this production was looking to make any statements that were grander than “isn’t war a bit crappy?” and “things have not changed as much as we’d like since the 60s”. It certainly hit both those notes and looking at the world around us, with the US election coming up and all the various conflicts going on in the world….well, it is depressingly pertinent.

Act One ends with a bang, which is sad for anyone who wanted to know more about the Fluoride Conspiracy. But good for those of us who were craving some sugar – being right in the back row meant we were first in the ice cream queue and we had plenty of time to enjoy it while listening to an early 60s soundtrack – The Ronnettes and Elvis, among others. I should also say, having complained about the toilet situation at Macbeth, that there were no queues at all at Dr Strangelove. And us middle-aged women do appreciate that.

Act Two started with the appearance of the B-52 – and it really was impressively sized. I’d heard from the production team’s social media posts that this might be somewhat of a challenge but they aced it. Of course, it was one of many challenges that the team faced as getting Steve Coogan through a full costume change every scene (trousers and everything!) can’t have been easy. The B-52 contained Steve’s fourth character – the one played by Slim Pickens in the film. Apparently Peter Sellers was meant to play all four as well but apparently sprained his ankle and couldn’t work in the aircraft set. Again, this role is quite a broad comedy one – Texan accent, American bravado and a whole heap of communistophobia. Steve Coogan seems quite relaxed with this again, enjoying the caricature, and he seems to play it very naturally. I was trying to think on the way home which other actor would pull this off with such ease and I was kinda stumped. Maybe Reece Shearsmith? It certainly is a demanding play in every aspect – not just the costume changes but the number of lines to be learnt and all the physical comedy as well. But it’s a triumph.

I won’t say too much about the ending because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone else who might go. I mean, if you’ve seen the film you know what happens at the end but I was more thinking I didn’t want to spoil the surprise in the last scene. All I’ll say is it’s very in keeping with the film and leaves you somehow light-hearted despite how grim the reality would be if you thought about it too much.

So, all said, it’s a very faithful adaptation of the film and possibly has more laugh-out-loud moments. I did like the couple of lines that were clearly a bit of a modern update, such as when one of the men in the War Room acknowledged the gender imbalance around the table. But it largely feels nostalgic and in a good way. The cast are all superb and the set design, as previously mentioned, is very clever. Obviously Steve Coogan was the star many times over but the whole ensemble were great and it wouldn’t have worked if they hadn’t been so accurate on their marks (I don’t even know who the Mr President body double was but he was good at not giving the game away). I didn’t take the kids because they haven’t seen the film but actually, I think there’s plenty they’d enjoy here. And hopefully the play’s predictions won’t turn out to be too accurate….