Rowan Atkinson is returning to the West End stage for the first time in 40 years to perform a mix of his most famous comedy characters and new material.
The show, called Rowan Live, will open in February and run for 30 performances. Atkinson will revive sketches from his career, including characters from Blackadder and Mr Bean, as well as material from the sketch show Not the Nine O'Clock News.
"It is 40 years since I last did a comedy sketch show in the West End," Atkinson said. "I thought it would be fun to perform again the sketches that began it all for myself and Richard Curtis, and in which my most well-known characters originated, alongside some surprise new material written especially for this show."
The production reunites Atkinson with longtime collaborators. Richard Curtis, who co-created the original sketches with Atkinson, will help shape the new material. Ben Elton, who wrote Blackadder, and composer Howard Goodall, who scored that series, are also contributing to the show.
The brief run of 30 performances marks a rare return to live comedy performance for Atkinson, whose career has been dominated by television and film roles over the past four decades.