Steve Coogan Will Lead DR. STRANGELOVE in the West End in Autumn 2024

Steve Coogan will lead the first ever adaption of Stanley Kubrick’s iconic film, as the world premiere stage production of Kubrick’s timeless classic Dr. Strangelove prepares to open in the West End in Autumn 2024.

Coogan, one of the UK’s most acclaimed actors whose remarkable career includes seven BAFTA Awards, will play multiple roles in the production set to begin performances on Tuesday 8 October 2024 (Press Night: Tuesday 29 October) at Noël Coward Theatre, London for a strictly limited season through until Saturday 21 December 2024.

This jet-black comedy masterpiece, about a rogue U.S. General who triggers a nuclear crisis, is brought to the stage by acclaimed, BAFTA and Emmy Award winner Armando Iannucci, who is best known for VEEP, and Olivier Award winner Sean Foley, in an explosively funny satire of mutually assured destruction. Sean Foley will also direct.

Tickets are on-sale tomorrow, Wednesday 27 September. Please visit www.DrStrangelove.com

Steve Coogan said: “The idea of putting Dr Strangelove on stage is daunting. A huge responsibility. It’s also an exciting challenge, an opportunity to bring this timeless classic to a new audience. Knowing that I will be part of a creative team led by Sean Foley and Armando Iannucci means I will be working with the best people. Sean is a master of stage comedy and Armando and I started working with each other over 30 years ago. We made some memorable comedy together so it’s great to be collaborating with him once again.”

Sean Foley added: “I’m thrilled and excited to finally be able to say that one of our very finest actor-comedians, the amazingly talented Steve Coogan, is to play the lead in our world premiere stage version of Dr Strangelove. Across stand up, sitcom, tv, and film, and in both comic and dramatic roles, Steve has excelled being able to make people belly laugh even while they wince - sensing the maladroit, the madness, and the menace in his extraordinary characters… I can think of no better actor to convey the ’nightmare comedy’ of Strangelove.” 

Armando Iannucci said: “It’s a tale of our time and it needs one of the most amazing talents of our time to tell it: I’ve seen Steve Coogan close-up for many years now, and can tell you that no-one gets right under the skin of a character the way he does. There’s a total focus on how each character would speak and move and even think, added to which is an instinctive comic timing and dramatic charisma that’s second to none. He’s able to get huge audiences to connect with the vulnerabilities and fine details of each character he brings to life. We’re all so delighted he’ll be bringing these amazing gifts to the stage for the hugely contrasting roles in ‘Dr Strangelove’ and I for one can’t wait to see Steve make them his own. It’s going to be a thrill for all of us.”

Steve Coogan was born and raised in Manchester where he trained as an actor at the Manchester Polytechnic School of Theatre. Shortly after Drama School, Steve landed his first job as an impersonator and comic on the satirical TV series Spitting Image.

In 1992 Coogan won the Perrier Award for his show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Whilst appearing on various shows on BBC Radio 4, the iconic British institution that is Alan Partridge was born. The character moved from radio to TV and over the years has picked up a number of BAFTAs and British Comedy Awards. Coogan has taken the character on three nationwide sell out tours. Mid Morning Matters aired on Sky Atlantic in February 2016 to critical acclaim and was followed by a mockumentary special, Scissored Isle for Sky for which he won a BAFTA for Best Male Performance in a Comedy Programme.

In 2019 Alan returned to BBC One in This Time With Alan Partridge to rave reviews and was nominated for Best Comedy Programme at the Broadcast Awards. This Time With Alan Partridge was back on our screens in 2021 for series 2. Alan has been the subject matter of two books I Alan Partridge: We Need To Talk About Alan released in 2011 and Alan Partridge: Nomad released in October 2016. In 2021 Coogan launched From The Oasthouse: The Alan Partridge Podcast for Audible which was nominated for a British Podcast Award.

Recent TV appearances include The Reckoning and Chivalry in 2022 and Stephen in 2021. Previously Coogan starred in Saxondale in 2006, Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2007, The Simpsons in 2012, Happyish in 2015 and four seasons of The Trip with Rob Brydon including the latest instalment, The Trip to Greece. Coogan won the BAFTA for Best Male Comedy Performance in 2011 for his performance in the first series.

For his work across TV and film, Coogan has won seven BAFTA Awards and seven British Comedy Awards. He was nominated for a BAFTA Film Award for Best Actor for his role in the critically acclaimed Stan & Ollie, starring opposite John C. Reilly and he was awarded The Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy in 2019.

In addition to The Trip series, which was released theatrically in a number of territories, Coogan has collaborated with filmmaker Michael Winterbottom on four feature films: 24 Hour Party People; A c*ckand Bull Story; Look of Love and, most recently, Greed, co-starring Isla Fisher.

His recent screen work includes The Lost King in 2022 as well as the critically acclaimed Philomena, co-starring Judi Dench which he co-wrote with Jeff Pope and produced under his Baby Cow production label. Philomena won the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in addition to being nominated for Outstanding British Film and Best Film. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.

His other film credits include The Dinner; Mindhorn; Rules Don’t Apply; The Parole Officer; Night at the Museum; Tropic Thunder; In the Loop; Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa; The Secret Life of Pets; Irreplaceable You; Minions and Despicable 2 and 3.

In 1999 Coogan set up Baby Cow Productions. Baby Cow have produced many successful and award-winning programmes including The Witchfinder; Chivalry; Alan Partridge; The Mighty Boosh; The Trip; Gavin & Stacey; Zapped; Uncle; Red Dwarf; Sensitive Skin; Camping; Moone Boy; Starlings and Hunderby.

Dr. Strangelove is produced by Patrick Myles and David Luff, in association with Tulchin Bartner Productions and Playful Productions. Jonathan Cameron is the Executive Producer for the Stanley Kubrick Estate.

About the Movie

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a 1964 political satire black comedy film directed, co-written, and produced by Stanley Kubrick and starring Peter Sellers in three roles, including the title character.

The film also stars George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, and Tracy Reed. The film, which satirizes the Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States, is loosely based on the thriller novel Red Alert (1958) by Peter George, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Kubrick and Terry Southern.

The story concerns an unhinged United States Air Force general who orders a pre-emptive nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. It separately follows the President of the United States, his advisors, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a Royal Air Force exchange officer as they attempt to prevent the crew of a B-52 (following orders from the general) from bombing the Soviet Union and starting a nuclear war.