DR. STRANGELOVE at the Noël Coward Theatre

★★★½

“part broad farce, part skewering satire, a little bit of ’Allo ’Allo, some Airplane, some Partridge”

You have to laugh, don’t you, faced with this confluence of existential crises. War in Europe and the Americans tempted by the charms of a bloviated strongman. Meanwhile the Reds, if not exactly under in our beds, then loitering on our phones, messing with our minds.

Perfect time then for that whip-smart agitator Armando Iannucci, arch chronicler of political chaos, to revive and adapt director Stanley Kubrick’s classic ode to Cold War lunacy, Dr Strangelove.

A great decision and elevated to genius with Steve Coogan who is in harness for not one but four roles – the headliner’s quick change act a marvel in itself.

A reminder: it’s the early 1960s. We’re in the Cold War, everyone’s on edge, there are Commies everywhere, paranoia is rife and cigar chomping General Jack Ripper (a very Trumpian John Hopkins) has gone rogue, sending his pilots to drop a big wing of H-bombs on the Ruskies.

The next two hours of this soaring, mile-a-minute, yet strangely stodgy comedy sees bumbling War Room generals trying to mitigate and resolve one world-ending disaster after another, not helped by a disabling patriotism that won’t let them back down.

There’s a grab-bag of comedy influences on show – part broad farce, part skewering satire, a little bit of ’Allo ’Allo, some Airplane, some Partridge (inevitably) as well as dollops of that Pythonesque love of institutional silliness.

But mostly we’re living in Coogan’s world. He is the lynchpin of director Sean Foley’s ambitious production that attempts – by means of audacious staging, filmed backdrops, crashes, bangs and shoot-outs – to emulate Kubrick’s 1964 silver screen satire.

All eyes are on Coogan as he embodies, in turn, marble mouthed Brit Lionel Mandrake (channelling King Charles); frazzled plot device President Merkin Muffley; bombastic, bombtastic pilot Major TJ Kong; and the eponymous Dr Strangelove, the sinister Nazi (‘as American as apple strudel’) with the Andy Warhol wig and the alien robot arm that has a tendency to heil Hitler. Coogan is at his peak here, whizzing about in a wheelchair in a blizzard of tics, finding layers of comedy in his camp German inflections.

When he is on, he is truly on, when he is off – changing wigs and suits – we hanker for his return.

Coogan makes the most of his audacious bid to match, and perhaps surpass, Peter Sellers – the film’s original star – as the country’s most admirable comic actor. Coogan gives it everything, seemingly understanding the weight of the comparison, even taking on a fourth role to top Sellers by one.

The production is not entirely successful. The convolutions of plot and language occasionally fall for their own complexity meaning the comedy sags. Too many jokes are aimless and dated. And the febrile pacing – one note, full pelt farce, major scene changes, and non-stop calamity – is sometimes too much and not enough at the same time, the cinematic ambition leaving the theatricals stuttering.

But the ensemble cast is uniformly strong. Booming Giles Terera as General Turgidson takes on Coogan blow-for-blow in the War Room set pieces. Mark Hadfield sprinkles baffled fun on proceedings as Paceman, and Tony Jayawardena gives Russian Ambassador Bakov some comedic heft.

The sets (by Hildegard Bechtler) are jaw dropping, the energy phenomenal and the laugh rate about as high as a B-52 over Moscow.

If Armageddon’s this much fun, bring on the bombs.

DR. STRANGELOVE at the Noël Coward Theatre

TReviewed on 29th October 2024

by Giles Broadbent

Photography by Manuel Harlan

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE MOTIVE AND THE CUE | ★★★★★ | December 2023

THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE | ★★★★★ | October 2023

THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF MUSICAL | ★★★ | March 2023

DR. STRANGELOVE

Click here to see our Recommended Shows page

HOW TO SURVIVE YOUR MOTHER at the King’s Head Theatre

★★★

“there are some lovely moments, and some laudable dialogue between Maitland and his wife”

How to Survive Your Mother is the newest play from playwright and former journalist Jonathan Maitland, dramatising the work of his 2007 memoir of the same name. Working with director Oliver Dawe, this play explores Maitland’s relationship with his mother, throughout his childhood and early adulthood, as she hot desks her way through different men, and opens up Britain’s first ever gay hotel (this definitely didn’t get enough attention).

Whilst the piece is strewn with moments of humour and astute observation, it was let down by a distinct lack of theatrical action. And by this, I mean a narrative arc; a dramatic structure; a climactic rise and fall, punctuated by catharsis. A play needn’t be a tragedy to necessitate such structures. Perhaps Maitland is jarred by his journalistic instincts, veering into the realm of witty and engaging reporting, but at the expense of theatrical flow. Thus, in lacking direction, the play also lacked pace, making the 90 minutes – sans interval – drag somewhat.

The work lacked that je ne sais quoi that electrifies theatre into life. It felt more like a loose montage of memories of Maitland’s mother’s outrageous displays of narcissism and abuse, than a constructed account of his mother and their relationship. So perhaps, actually, I do sais quoi, and it is the pressing lack of a coherent narrative.

Whilst both play and staging did feel overly busy at times, the set design (Louie Whitemore) and use of props were accomplished and inventive. I especially enjoyed a birthday cake’s transformation into a steering wheel, and shortly after, an airbag.

Within the small cast, majority were multi-rolling, and excellently so, interspersing humour and subtlety into their every character. Personally and perhaps unfairly, I have a long-held vendetta against child actors, and the inclusion of a child (Brodie Edwards and Howard Webb, alternately) in this play did not help to dispel my prejudice.

Maitland has his own role on stage: he appears as himself in the present day action, addressing the audience, and sometimes his wife. At other times, he just circles the stage, or plops himself down in the audience for long stretches. Whilst his self-effacing commentary on both this choice and his lack of acting ability is amusing – and fascinating on a meta-theatrical level – it undermines the dramatic action, detracting focus from the scene itself.

The play, as one would assume, revolves around Maitland’s mother. And whilst he does point out that he has written ‘a play, not a diagnosis’, his mother dabbles in all sorts of textbook narcissism. The problem with narcissists, though, is that they often straddle charisma and malice simultaneously (PSA: I’m not a psychiatrist). The problem with the portrayal here is that, as effervescent as Emma Davies is, Maitland’s mother is consistently selfish, nasty, and completely objectionable. And with the absence of a narrative arc compelling us to her, it’s hard to develop a strong enough interest in both her and her relationship with her son.

It is the lack of coherence and narrative that lets this play down. Despite this, there are some lovely moments, and some laudable dialogue between Maitland and his wife, largely deliberating on the nature of The Female Middle Age Crisis to Trained Therapist pipeline.

Oedipus did a great job of sparking our collective obsession with mother-son relationships, and Maitland’s new play is an interesting addition. But Oedipus also excelled in its very story, without which there is little appeal. How to Survive your Mother, whilst entertaining, needs this appeal if it is to also be affecting.

Category Archives: Reviews

DR. STRANGELOVE

★★★½

Noël Coward Theatre

DR. STRANGELOVE at the Noël Coward Theatre

★★★½

“part broad farce, part skewering satire, a little bit of ’Allo ’Allo, some Airplane, some Partridge”