Dr. Strangelove

Dr. Strangelove description

About Dr Strangelove

Stanley Kubrick's classic satirical comedy Dr Strangelove is due in London’s West End during 2024 for a world stage premiere that’s certain to delight.

The 1964 film was often described as one of the greatest films of all time, ranked 26th in the 1998 American Film Institute list of best American movies. The year 2000 saw it hit number three in the funniest American films list. It’s preserved in the United States Library of Congress top 25 films as ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant’.

Four Academy Award nominations included Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor for Peter Sellers. The 7 BAFTA Film Awards resulted in wins for Best Film From Any Source, Best British Film, and Best Art Direction (Black and White).

The original 1964 black comedy movie was directed, co-written and produced by Stanley Kubrick. It starred the British comedy actor Peter Sellers, who played three roles including Strangelove himself. This brand new stage production marks the first time the film-maker’s work has been adapted for the stage, thanks to the sterling work of the hilarious BAFTA and Emmy Award winner Armando Iannucci and Olivier Award winner Sean Foley. They’ve collaborated to bring Kubrick's dark comedy satire about a nuclear attack to the stage, and cheap tickets for Dr Strangelove are set to be hot property for 2024.

Satirising Cold War fears of a nuclear war between the USSR and USA, the plot was originally inspired by the 1958 thriller book Red Alert by Peter George, who co-wrote the movie screenplay along with Kubrick himself. The US novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and university lecturer Terry Southern also co-wrote the film, a member of the Paris post war literary movement during the ‘50s who was involved with the infamous Greenwich Village Beat writers.

The story? An unhinged United States Air Force general orders a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the USSR. The action follows the US President, his advisors, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a Royal Air Force exchange officer as they desperately try to stop the crew of the B-52 en route to the Soviet Union, where they’re hell bent on kicking off a nuclear war.

What's the story of Dr Strangelove?

Described as an explosively funny satire of mutually assured destruction, Katharina Kubrick, Kubrick's daughter, says the show is perfect for our times: "The subject matter of this film is particularly relevant again in our prevailing political climate. People often laugh when they would rather cry, and this is exactly how the film, and now the play, handles the possibility of the ultimate destruction of life on earth; certainly, an important topic amongst many, to concentrate the mind."

Sean Foley agrees. In his words: "Stanley Kubrick’s ’nightmare comedy’ is a perennially relevant satire on world politics and how powerful men can be stupid enough to let us all die if it means they get to brag about it."

Who is starring in Dr Strangelove?

The cast, dates, and theatre are yet to be announced.

Who is on the Dr Strangelove creative team?

The full creative team will be revealed nearer the time.

Find cheap tickets for Dr Strangelove

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Playing at Noel Coward Theatre (venue info)