Dr Strangelove
Dr Strangelove
Noel Cowards Theatre
(Review Complete)
(Click here for an audio review)
"If you liked the film, you will love this brilliant piece of theatre"
I had only a vague recollection of the film but my husband remembered it well and this play is a very faithful adaptation. Originally screened in 1964, Dr Strangelove, or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb, is Stanley Kubrick’s darkly satirical take on the the atomic bomb and the Cold War.
It is a hard hitting subject treated with wicked humour and the performances are, without exception, excellent. It is hard to pick out any one person above another but Giles Terera as General Turgidson, John Hopkins as General Ripper and Mark Hadfield as Faceman were all most impressive.
In the original film Peter Sellers memorably played 3 parts. However Steve Coogan goes one better than that and plays 4! This is a magnificent tour-de-force! He spends much of the time changing costumes, wigs and accents! He plays Captain Mandrake, and upper class English RAF officer; President Muffley, the beleaguered American head of state; Major T J Kong, the mad Texan Pilot of the plane that drops the atom bomb; and the eccentric Dr Strangelove, the German scientist with an autonomous Nazi arm and some very bizarre ideas! Coogan’s ability to completely change his voice and his physicality for each part is breathtaking!
He is a truly great actor! There are some wonderful effects throughout, aided by great back projections and lighting. I loved this show from start to finish. It is quirky, irreverent and very funny although some may also find the concept quite shocking.
This is definitely one show I will be paying a repeat visit to.
Reviewer: Julia Rufey
We are Gifted tickets so that in return we may give an honest review. All comments are those of the reviewer and theirs alone.