Rowan Atkinson returns to the West End with Rowan Live, and Blackadder is coming too
Well, well. After decades of us asking, here is something rather close to a cunning plan. Rowan Atkinson announced today that he is returning to the West End with Rowan Live, his first comedy sketch show in London’s theatreland for 40 years.
The show plays a short season of 30 performances at the Gillian Lynne Theatre on Drury Lane, from 8 February to 13 March 2027, with press night on 16 February. Performances are Monday to Saturday at 7.30pm.
Old faces and new material
Rowan Live brings back sketches and characters from across his career, including Mr Bean, material from the Not the Nine O’Clock News days and, yes, Blackadder. Alongside the classics there will be new material written by Richard Curtis, Ben Elton and Howard Goodall. That means the two writers behind Blackadder are back at the same desk.
Raz Shaw directs, Howard Goodall (who wrote the Blackadder theme) provides the music, and the show is produced by Playful Productions with PBJ Management.
“It is 40 years since I last did a comedy sketch show in the West End, and I thought it would be fun to perform again.”
Rowan Atkinson
Getting tickets
Priority booking opens on Wednesday 7 October at 9am, with general sale from 12 noon the same day. With only 30 performances, expect them to go faster than Baldrick through a turnip.
Book Rowan Live tickets at LW Theatres ›
There’s no word yet on which Blackadder material will appear, or whether any old friends will join him on stage. We’ll post updates here as we hear them.