Rowan Atkinson will return to London’s West End next year with Rowan Live, a new stage show featuring sketches and characters from his best-known comedy works.
The limited season will run at the Gillian Lynne Theatre from February 8 to March 13. The show will feature material from Mr Bean, Blackadder and Not the Nine O’Clock News, alongside new sketches.
Atkinson will reunite with longtime collaborators, including writer Richard Curtis, Blackadder co-creator Ben Elton, and composer Howard Goodall.
The show marks Atkinson’s return to the West End comedy sketch format after four decades.
“It is forty years since I last did a comedy sketch show in the West End,” Atkinson said, adding that he wanted to revisit the sketches that began his collaboration with Curtis and introduced some of his best-known characters.
Atkinson first performed with Curtis on stage in the 1970s. Their work later contributed to some of British television’s most popular comedies, including Not the Nine O’Clock News.
He went on to star as Edmund Blackadder in Blackadder and as the largely silent Mr Bean, two characters that became defining roles in his career.
Curtis, who first saw Atkinson perform in 1976, described him as a “unique, once-in-a-lifetime talent” and said his comic ability remained unchanged decades later.
The production will be directed by Raz Shaw, with music by Goodall.
Rowan Live will combine Atkinson’s established characters with new material written specifically for the production.
