Rowan Atkinson Returns To The West End With Rowan Live

Rowan Atkinson will bring some of his best-known comedy characters to the London stage in Rowan Live, a new show at the Gillian Lynne Theatre. Running from 8 February to 13 March 2027, the production will feature just 30 performances, combining familiar sketches with newly written material.

Audiences can expect appearances from Mr Bean and Blackadder, alongside comedy drawn from Not the Nine O’Clock News. The show will revisit the routines that helped establish Atkinson’s career while introducing fresh sketches developed with Richard Curtis, Ben Elton and Howard Goodall.

The production marks four decades since Atkinson last presented a comedy sketch show in the West End. It also reunites collaborators whose creative connections stretch back to his early performing days. Atkinson first worked with Curtis and Goodall on stage comedy while studying at Oxford University, before becoming a familiar face on television during the 1980s.

For fans of Mr Bean, Rowan Live offers a chance to see a character whose roots lie in live performance. Atkinson developed his largely silent comic creation on stage before bringing him to television, where his expressive reactions and physical mishaps reached audiences around the world. Blackadder showcased another side of his comedy, pairing sharp dialogue with characters navigating different periods of British history.

Curtis and Atkinson began developing the new production over the summer, trying out material before a small audience. Their latest collaboration will draw on the range of voices, expressions and personalities that have defined Atkinson’s performances, with new writing adding another chapter to their longstanding partnership.

Although widely recognised for his screen work, Atkinson also has an established theatre career. He received an Olivier Award nomination for playing Fagin in the West End production of Oliver! in 2009 and later starred in Simon Gray’s Quartermaine’s Terms in 2013.

Directed by Raz Shaw, Rowan Live will give London theatregoers a rare opportunity to watch Atkinson perform his sketch comedy in person. Its limited engagement at the Gillian Lynne Theatre will follow the conclusion of My Neighbour Totoro, which finishes there on 3 January 2027.