Stage Production of Stanley Kubrick's DR. STRANGELOVE to Open in London in Autumn 2024

Stanley Kubrick's iconic work will be adapted for the first time ever, when a world premiere stage production of his timeless classic Dr. Strangelove opens in the West End in Autumn 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 and Olivier Award winner Sean Foley in an explosively funny satire of mutually assured destruction. Sean Foley will also direct.

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Armando Iannucci said: “It's both thrilling and hugely terrifying to be asked to adapt Kubrick's great apocalyptic movie for the stage: which is useful, since it's a thrilling comedy about huge terror. The events it portrays are no less mad today than when Stanley Kubrick made the film sixty years ago. No-one marshals madness on stage better than Sean Foley so it's been an extremely enjoyable process plotting our mutually assured destruction together.  My hope is audiences will respond to Dr Strangelove on stage with bountiful laughter and shrieks.”

Sean Foley added: “It is both a privilege and a thrill to be asked to adapt and direct one of the most iconic films of all time, and working with Armando Iannucci on the adaptation has been a joy. 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. With a string of hilarious scenes and characters, and a plot that takes us to the edge of doom, I hope Dr Strangelove on stage will once again prove to be the comedy that makes us think deeply whilst we laugh our heads off.”

Christiane Kubrick, Stanley's widow, said: “We have always been reluctant to let anyone adapt any of Stanley's work, and we never have.  It was so important to him that it wasn't changed from how he finished it.  But we could not resist authorising this project:  the time is right; the people doing it are fantastic; and Strangelove should be brought to a new and younger audience.  I am sure Stanley would have approved it too.”

Jan Harlan, Stanley's long-time producer, added “Dr. Strangelove was initially conceived as a serious film based on the novel “Red Alert” by Peter George. During the adaptation Stanley ran into a wall: It was impossible to make a successful film about the end of mankind since nobody, himself included, would want to see it. The answer was satire.   Laughing is one of our go-to responses when faced with an inescapable reality. As the film charts our short path to total self-destruction, we must make fun of it and 'all will be well'.” 

Katharina Kubrick, Stanley's daughter, said “I am thrilled that Dr. Strangelove is being adapted for the stage.  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.  I greatly look forward to seeing Dr Strangelove on the stage, which I am certain will be an outstanding production of the highest calibre.”

A theatre, dates, cast and further creative team will be announced in due course.

Dr. Strangelove is produced by Patrick Myles and David Luff, in association with Tulchin Bartner Productions and Playful Productions.

Armando Iannucci is a writer and broadcaster who has written, directed and produced numerous critically acclaimed films, television and radio comedy shows.

His screenplay for the film In The Loop was nominated for an Oscar at the Academy Awards. His iconic series for the BBC – The Thick of It – was nominated for 13 BAFTA Awards, winning 5 during its four series run. Among his own award-winning shows, he is also the co-creator and writer of the popular Steve Coogan character Alan Partridge.

Armando's HBO comedy Veep has picked up numerous awards, including four Emmys for Outstanding Comedy Series over the last four years. His film adaptation of Charles Dickens' The Personal History of David Copperfield was released in January 2020, which has won numerous awards including Best screenplay at the WGBA and Best Screenplay at BIFA, and was also nominated for a Golden Globe, and won a Seal Distinction from the US Critics' Choice Association.

In 2017 he published Hear Me Out, a new book on classical music, and released the feature film The Death of Stalin, which was nominated for 2 BAFTAs and won Best Comedy at the European Film Awards. The second season of HBO's Avenue 5, which stars Hugh Laurie and Josh Gad, aired in 2022.

Sean Foley is an actor, writer and director. A double Olivier Award-winner and Tony nominee, his work - as lead creative on 14 West End shows: as co-writer/star; writer/director; adaptor/director; and director - has also been Olivier nominated multiple times. He has - uniquely - been personally nominated in the acting, writing and directing categories.

Theatre credits include: The Crown Jewels at The Garrick Theatre, Spitting Image The Musical, (co-writer and director; Birmingham Rep and Phoenix Theatre); the Olivier nominated The Upstart Crow, (director, Gielgud and Apollo), starring David Mitchell and Gemma Whelan; The Play What I Wrote, (co-writer/director), first major revival guest starring Tom Hiddleston, Adrian Lester, et al; ; his Olivier Award winning production of Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, (Duke of Yorks), starring Stephen Mangan and Matthew Macfadyen; Olivier Award nominated The Miser, (co-writer and director, Garrick Theatre), starring Griff Rhys Jones; The Painkiller, in Kenneth Branagh's West End season, (as adaptor/director, Garrick Theatre), starring Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon; the 5 times Olivier nominated The Ladykillers (as director and script associate), including Best Director, Best New Play and Whatsonstage Award for Best New Comedy, Gielgud, starring Peter Capaldi; the Olivier nominated, Arturo Brachetti: Change, (as writer/director, Garrick); the Olivier Award winning Do You Come Here Often? (as co-writer and actor, Vaudeville); the Olivier Award winning The Play What I Wrote, (as co-writer and actor - further jointly nominated as Best Actor, Wyndham's). The play was also Tony Award nominated on its Broadway transfer); the Olivier Award nominated, Ducktastic, (as co-writer and actor, Albery). The Walworth Farce, with Brendan, Domhnall and Brian Gleeson, Olympia Theatre, Dublin.

Further directing work includes: The Man In The White Suit, (as writer/director, Wyndhams), starring Stephen Mangan; The Dresser, (Duke of York's); his RSC debut, adapting and directing Thomas Middleton's A Mad World My Masters, (Swan Theatre, Stratford, and Barbican); Harry Hill and Steve Brown's, I Can't Sing! at The London Palladium, starring Cynthia Erivo; Present Laughter, The Critic, and The Real Inspector Hound, (Chichester Festival Theatre); Joe Orton's What The Butler Saw, (Vaudeville); Ben Hur, (Watermill); Pinter's People, (Theatre Royal, Haymarket); as writer only, his adaptation of Eugene Ionesco's Amedee, or How To Get Rid Of It, debuted at Birmingham Rep.

Sean has also directed the live shows of leading comedians, including: Joan Rivers: A Work In Progress, (Leicester Square); Armstrong and Miller Live (UK Tour); Catherine Tate Live (UK and Australian Tour)

As co-artistic director of the right size, he created, co-wrote and starred in ten original stage comedies 1990 to 2000. The company played in over 25 countries around the world, winning many international awards.

His feature film directing debut, Mindhorn, written by and starring Julian Barratt & Simon Farnaby, was first seen at the London Film Festival and won the London Film Comedy Award for Best First Feature. TV directing includes episodes of Sky's anthology series, Urban Myths: Marilyn and Billy, starring Gemma Arterton; and, Diana and Freddy.

Sean is the Artistic Director of Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

 

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