Armando Iannucci has been the brains behind some of the most iconic British comedy on TV and film in recent decades - and now he’s turned to the stage with Dr Strangelove.
Following a sell-out run at the Noel Coward Theatre in London, the full West End cast has relocated to Dublin’s Bord Gáis Energy Theatre for 18 nights, up to 22 February.
Iannucci's screenplay for the film In The Loop was nominated for an Oscar in 2010. The Thick of It, his iconic series for the BBC, was nominated for 13 BAFTA Awards, winning 5.
Among his own award-winning shows, he is also the co-creator and writer of the hugely popular Steve Coogan character Alan Partridge, which spawned various TV shows and a film.
Then there’s the HBO comedy Veep with four Emmys for Outstanding Comedy Series, and his film adaptation of Charles Dickens's The Personal History of David Copperfield won numerous awards.
Adapted for the stage by Armando Iannucci and Sean Foley, Dr Strangelove was a 1964 satirical comedy written and directed by the legendary British filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. It parodies Cold War fears of a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Sixty years on, it’s now a hit stage play followed which had a massively successful run in London’s West End, with Steve Coogan leading the show's ensemble cast and earning rave reviews.
So, why Dr Strangelove and why now?
"Why not?" Says Armando Iannucci, before offering a more straightforward answer: "I was asked. There’s never been an adaptation of a Kubrick film, and eventually, they [the Kubrick family] were persuaded to put a version up on stage.
"They approached Sean Foley to direct, and he approached me and I said It’s one of my favourite films, it’s one of my favourite comedies. Yes!"
In the film, Peter Sellers was outstanding, playing three very different roles. In the stage version Steve Coogan - a massive fan of Sellers - kind of out-Sellered his hero by taking on those same three roles - and one more.
"In the film, Peter Sellers plays three characters," Iannucci explains. "He plays the American president, he plays Dr Strangelove - the German scientist obsessed with technology - and Mandrake, the RAF officer.
"Steve does all those, but he also plays Colonel Kong, who is the commander of the B-52 that’s got the bomb.
"And there is a B-52 on stage at some point," he adds. "People will be wondering how we managed to do certain switches, I’m not going to reveal how but there’s no holograms or mirrors and stuff - it’s all real."
It’s very much a case of reuniting old pals and renewing a working relationship for both Iannucci and Coogan. These guys go back a long time.
"At least 30 years," Iannucci says. "We sort of complete each other’s sentences, you know? Especially when we’re trying to work out a joke or a line or something. He’d start it and I’d chip something in. It’s become a kind of shorthand over the years."
Dr Strangelove is at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre until 22 February and tickets are available from Ticketmaster.ie
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