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

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“a deeply poignant tale of family and friends separated by creed, war and ignorance”

The Kite Runner first appeared as a novel in 2003, the first work of author Khaled Hosseini. It soon became an instant bestseller across the globe and has since been published in 70 countries, selling 31.5 million copies in 60 languages.

The book was soon made into a film in 2007 but a theatrical script had already been produced before the film was released. It didn’t appear on stage until 2009 when it was produced in San Francisco by The San Jose Repertory, and won five San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics’ Circle Awards. In 2013 Nottingham Playhouse and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse secured the rights to stage the European premiere of The Kite Runner. The subsequent production toured the UK and received positive reviews from the public and critics.

Original director Giles Croft stays with the production for this transfer to the West End.

I was probably one of the few people in the audience to have neither seen the film nor read the book, so I had no preconceived ideas about what to expect. What appears an incredibly simple, but beautifully effective set design (Barney George) takes us to 1970s Kabul. The sound of the tabla resonating as we meet Amir (Ben Turner) and his closest friend, Hassan (Andrei Costin), the Hazara servant of his father.

The play is told through Amir’s eyes. From his childhood and the carefree afternoons of kite flying tournaments with Hassan, to the tragic events where it all started to go wrong. With a nation split and little alternative other than to flee, the play has eerie overtones of situations around the world we are still experiencing today. This is a deeply poignant tale of family and friends separated by creed, war and ignorance.

The Kite Runner is one of those rare plays that can take you through almost every emotion; anger, sadness, joy and at times utter helplessness at the plight of the Afghans. There are moments of light relief, and some great comedy lines – many from Amir’s father, Baba (Emilio Doorgasingh), whose justification of why drinking Scotch isn’t a sin, you just can’t argue with!

Some of the more disturbing scenes from the book are portrayed out of sight, but are no less harrowing to watch. Outstanding performance in these scenes goes to Andrei Costin as Hassan.

By the end of the first act, I’d envisaged this would be a five star show (unless it took an enormous down turn in act two). I wasn’t disappointed, the second act was if anything more engaging than the first. The spiral of emotion there again yet emphasising the power of the human spirit never giving up hope.

Many of the reviews I’ve read have compared this production to the book and the film which is a bit of a disservice to the play. It is different, it may not be as you remember the novel to be, but please give it a go. This is a brilliant piece of work, outstandingly acted by a talented cast.

The first ‘must see’ of 2017.

Tag Archives: Ben Turner

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”

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

DR. STRANGELOVE

Click here to see our Recommended Shows page

The Kite Runner – Wyndham’s Theatre

Opening Night – 10 January 2017

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“a deeply poignant tale of family and friends separated by creed, war and ignorance”

The Kite Runner first appeared as a novel in 2003, the first work of author Khaled Hosseini. It soon became an instant bestseller across the globe and has since been published in 70 countries, selling 31.5 million copies in 60 languages.

Original director Giles Croft stays with the production for this transfer to the West End.

Some of the more disturbing scenes from the book are portrayed out of sight, but are no less harrowing to watch. Outstanding performance in these scenes goes to Andrei Costin as Hassan.

Many of the reviews I’ve read have compared this production to the book and the film which is a bit of a disservice to the play. It is different, it may not be as you remember the novel to be, but please give it a go. This is a brilliant piece of work, outstandingly acted by a talented cast.

The first ‘must see’ of 2017.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Kite Runner is at Wyndham’s Theatre until March 11th

Click on the image below to book tickets via

Delfont Mackintosh

All photographs – Robert Workman