Dr.Strangelove, Giles Terera (Turgidson) Steve Coogan (President Muffley), Tony Jayawardena (Bakov), Mark Hadfield (Faceman) Oliver Alvin-Wilson (Jefferson). Photo by Manuel Harlan.Given that the Harris/Trump US Presidential election is just days away and on a knife-edge, and the Russian war in Ukraine has been ebbing back and forth with arms and military assistance to both sides now filtering through to the front lines, the world has never been closer to Armageddon. It’s almost as if the lessons learned since the fall of the Berlin Wall in the early 1990s have all but evaporated in a toxic cloud of super-heated ego and idiocy. It was with this Damoclesian menace in the back of my mind, that I ventured to the beautiful Noël Coward Theatre to witness first hand just what the creative team have conjured in their efforts to bring DR STRANGELOVE to the stage.
First off, it should be stated that Coogan has an extremely busy show, switching (as Peter Sellers did in the film) between multiple key characters. On stage, this requires a Herculean effort from the actor (particularly his capacity to retain focus and be in the right place, at the right time, as the right person) with phenomenal backstage support from the wig and costume team. I have to report that Coogan’s disappearances and blasé reappearances (as completely different characters) throughout the production, are a testament to phenomenal logistical planning and preparation. Having myself appeared in shows requiring quick changes and theatrical subterfuge, I can imagine that the theatre wings must already be daubed in wig glue splashes and alive with the sound of ripping Velcro at every performance.
General Ripper (John Hopkins) sees Commies everywhere and orders the bomber squadron under his command to launch a pre-emptive reprisal dubbed a pre-taliate against Russian targets. Military bureaucracy and a dependence on operation codenames ensures that President Muffley (Coogan #1) who is holed-up with his squabbling gung-ho generals in the war bunker, has been bypassed in the chain of command making the issuance of cancellation codes nigh-on impossible. Meanwhile a former Nazi scientist — the Dr Strangelove of the title (Coogan #2) — offers expert advice, whilst alluding to his darkly inappropriate past and possible ongoing side-line agenda. We also experience the manoeuvring of a mild-mannered British Air Force Captain Mandrake (Coogan #3) who is continually thwarted by his hawkish, cigar-chomping American base commander, and the cowboy antics of one bomber pilot Maj TJ Kong (Coogan #4) as he attempts to override all common-sense and deliver his nuclear payload.
Telephone conversations and miscommunication sequences involving misunderstandings and idiotic assumptions, are the cause of much nonsensical double-speak adding a layer of slap-stick to the comedy shtick. More contentious and creepy, are the period-appropriate references to women which nowadays resonate in a Margaret Drabble, Handmaid’s Tale way and will undoubtedly shock anyone under the age of 35. Even those of an older vintage will concede just how prehistoric and disrespectful such references to the need for women to be interred in reproduction colonies to ensure the future of the species, now sound. However in the main the script is a faithful re-hashing of the original aside from a few choice modernisations.
Hildegard Bechtler’s set makes good use of screen technology to convey a map of Russia as the bombers encroach on their targets, as well as supplementing a cockpit nose cone with visualised wing tips and terrain beneath, to create the illusion of a super jet.
Most of the supporting cast add little more than fluff and distraction for Coogan’s costume/character changes, with the notable exception of Giles Terera as General Turgidson who exhibits the sort of restrained evangelical hypocrisy and paranoia we have come to expect and loathe from the other side of the Atlantic.
On press night there was a busy smattering of celebs in attendance including Richard Ayoade, Victoria Coren Mitchell, David Mitchell, Michael Palin, Grayson Perry, David Baddiel and Frank Skinner, Michael Grade and others. The production and its intentions won’t necessarily be understood or appreciated by everyone, but those who came to support Coogan, will undoubtedly feel there is a certain fatalistic nostalgia in acknowledging that mankind seems hell-bent on acting-out its cyclical stupidity. They may also feel that poking fun at it, may be all we have left.
Dr. Strangelove is running at Noël Coward Theatre until 25th January 2025.
