RARELY HAS THE PROSPECT OF THE END OF THE WORLD BEEN SO FUNNY

By Henry Roberts | Henry Roberts Creative · @henry_roberts_photography | Press Invite

We like to think that those in power are at least somewhat competent. That those with authority to sanction violence – be it from a machine gun or a nuclear missile – are level-headed and thus the ones least likely to fire. In short, that the people in charge know what they’re doing. It will be a nice idea to comfort ourselves when the bombs start falling.

The irrationality of the military mind and the illogic of mutually-assured-destruction are satirised in a new production of Dr Strangelove, adapted by Armando Iannucci and Sean Foley. A rogue military general – Jack D Ripper – has authorised a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the Soviet Union which will almost certainly escalate into all-out nuclear war. Despite several contingency plans in place, no one can authorise the plane to turn around. The President may be the leader of the free world, but he can’t stop the bomb.

Rarely has the prospect of the end of the world been so funny.  Steve Coogan is wonderful, multi-rolling as Dr Strangelove, Captain Mandrake, President Muffley and Major TJ Kong. (He makes Peter Sellers look lazy for only playing three of those characters!) John Hopkins is particularly brilliant – and terrifying – as General Ripper, whose name tells you everything you need to know about his proclivity for slaughter. The collective anxiety, hubris and idiocy of the ensemble is a joy to behold. The militarised world satirised in the play is a male one: the principle cast is almost entirely men – except for one woman appearing right at the end, when the damage has been done. 

Stanley Kubrick’s seminal 1964 film of Dr Strangelove came at a time when fear of nuclear holocaust was a major public concern: the Cuban Missile Crisis stoked fear in millions, and the Cold War meant that nuclear annihilation was as much a political issue as taxation and healthcare. But whilst we might like to watch Dr Strangelove as a satire of the past, the play’s targets are still extremely prescient. The threat of nuclear war is very much with us, even if it’s no longer part of the national discourse. The jokes in the play aren’t just slapstick; they satirise a very real logic (or lack thereof) that continues to dominate international politics. Incompetent people are still in charge – and they have the codes to the bomb. We might be laughing at them, but the joke’s on us.

The production was always going to be weighed down by two things: the legacy of Kubrick’s film and the celebrity of Steve Coogan. Unavoidably, the shadow of the film hangs over the play and many of the creative decisions behind the production are lifted straight from Kubrick’s movie. The play’s soundtrack is an echo of the film, with an opening rendition of Try a Little Tenderness, the recurrence of When Johnny Comes Marching Home and a finale set to Vera Lynn’s We’ll Meet Again. The stage closely replicates the War Room of the film, with its imposing ring of light and the ‘big board’ that features prominently in the story. It’s a marvellous set and quite thrilling to see for the first time. Many of the play’s best lines, unsurprisingly, come from the film, and the audience was clearly listening out for them. (There was a round of applause after “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here, this is the war room!”) It’s a problem of adapting a perfect work of art into another medium: is it best to innovate or imitate?

That’s not to say the play doesn’t have qualities of its own. For one thing, there are plenty of hilarious lines that are new to the script. There’s also a lot of admirable stagecraft, such as the use of body doubles to mirror Steve Coogan’s many characters as he runs offstage to change into another costume. The speed of these changes and Coogan’s ability to switch between characters is amazing. People will inevitably buy tickets for Coogan’s name alone, as is increasingly the case with West End shows relying on star power to ensure a return on investment. But even Coogan’s biggest fans will struggle not to be enraptured in this story about our collapse as a species. There may be a joke every minute, but this is a tragedy in the realest sense. 

Don’t let the prospect of the end of civilisation as we know it put you off, though. The play is a hilarious satire about our intelligence in creating world-ending weapons and our stupidity in potentially ever using them. The pace is punchy and there’s not a slow moment over the two hours. Guaranteed to be a hot ticket, Dr Strangelove is one of the most enjoyable evenings you’ll spend at the theatre this year. You just may find yourself despairing once the laughter stops.

Dr Strangelove is running until 25 January at Noel Coward Theatre.

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Photo Credit: Manuel Harlan