Neil Norman

In an ash blonde wig and scooting around in a wheelchair, Coogan’s Strangelove is faithful to the Wernher von Braun-like character without replicating Sellers’ performance. As the bewildered British officer Captain Mandrake he is vocally a dead ringer for King Charles III which adds to the fun. The dialogue is largely unchanged and we have the pleasure of hearing “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!” among other classic lines.

In an ash blonde wig and scooting around in a wheelchair, Coogan’s Strangelove is faithful to the Wernher von Braun-like character without replicating Sellers’ performance. As the bewildered British officer Captain Mandrake he is vocally a dead ringer for King Charles III which adds to the fun. The dialogue is largely unchanged and we have the pleasure of hearing “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!” among other classic lines.

Most satisfying of all, Harris has enormous fun eviscerating therapy speak and the dangers of psycho-sexual intervention. It’s funny, clever and undoubtedly challenging, though neither as outrageous nor profound as it would like to be.

Corden is outstanding, however, and the manic energy that turbo charged the comedy of One Man is here repurposed in a more dramatic context. You can feel his anger simmering even in some of the more comic interchanges, and Maxwell Martin responds with the cool wariness of someone who wants to do the right thing for a man who behaves like a human IED.

The one-note bluster of the first act fails to convey Tyrone’s wheedling self pity; over compensating for his shaky grip on the lines, he doesn’t find his feet until the second half, especially in the extended monologue with his youngest son, Edmund, diagnosed with consumption. Until then all eyes are on Patricia Clarkson as Mary Tyrone who delivers a forensically detailed performance of a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown.