One of Stanley Kubrick’s best movies is being turned into a play

Rory Fleming

The celebrated comedy is set to be adapted for the stage.

One of Stanley Kubrick’s best ever movies has been given the green light for its proposed stage adaption.

Kubrick’s family have given their blessing for his 1964 cold-war comedy Dr. Strangelove to be reimagined by Armando Iannucci.

The Scottish director is best known for his work on TV political satires such as The Thick of It and Veep.

Speaking to the BBC, Iannucci remarked how the story of Dr. Strangelove is still pertinent to this day.

“As a story, weirdly it hasn’t gone away. It seems the right time to remind people of the mad logic behind these dangerous games that superpowers play”.

The adaption is set to be staged next Autumn in London’s West End, and will be co-written and directed by double Olivier Award winner Sean Foley.

Joking about the news of the movie’s rebirth, Iannucci quipped;

“In these sad times, what better way to cheer the nation up than a stage show about the end of the world”.

Stanley Kubrick’s widow Christiane also reacted to the news, saying that;

“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”.

The message of Stanley Kubrick is relevant to this day:

The celebrated director’s daughter Katharina echoed the sentiments of Iannucci, expressing her belief that the movie has remained topical;

“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”.

To aid in the development of the play, the Kubrick family have also granted Iannucci access to Stanley’s personal archive, which contains some “discarded scenes, first drafts (and) moments that they were going to shoot and then decided not to”.

Initially released two years removed from the Cuban Missile crisis, Iannucci draws parallels with the current war in Ukraine and the escalating climate change crisis.

“It feels like a very relevant reassertion of the message that, this is the madness staring at us if we don’t do anything about it”.

“And currently, we aren’t doing anything about it. So the outcome is not good”, he said.

However, the goal of the play is not to evoke a sense of worry from the audience, but rather to see people “leave the theatre with that message and a smile”.

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