Stephen Merchant will be taking to the stage at the Wyndham’s Theatre later this year with the two man show that is The Mentalists, but without a great deal of West End experience under his belt it’s going to be a big challenge for the comedy actor, writer and director. The good news is that his partner in crime for the dark comedy is Steffan Rhodri, who has a number of big productions in his back catalogue, including a couple of RSC plays, so he should have some good support to help his stage debut go to plan.
The play, written by Richard Bean, premiered at the National Theatre back in 2002 and the upcoming revival will be opening at the Wyndham’s Theatre on the 3rd July 2015, running through until the 26th September 2015. Preview shows will take up the first couple of weeks of the production from the 3rd – 16th July 2015 and tickets are available to book online via Ticketmaster and the Theatre’s online booking tool.
Prices for the preview shows range from £15 in the balcony to £49.50 for seats in the front stalls and £79 in the Royal Circle, while the main performances from the 17th July will set you back £19.50 in the balcony, £39.50 in the cheaper stalls, royal circle and grand circle, and £99 in the most expensive front stalls and Royal circle. Show time will be 7:45pm for the evening shows Monday to Saturday and 3pm for Wednesday and Saturday matinees.
The play itself is located within the claustrophobic confines of a room in a nameless Finsbury Park Hotel as two long-standing friends – Ted (Stephen Merchant), and Morrie (Steffan Rhodri) – grapple with some of the more challenging elements of their unconventional relationship. However, it doesn’t take too long for things to go off kilter as the tension of their situation starts to take its toll and their plan for utopian idealism goes wrong with unexpected and emotionally charged results.
The Mentalist was one of Richard Bean’s earliest productions, following on from Toast in 1999 and Mr England in 2000. He’s gone on to pick up international acclaim for his show One Man, Two Guvnors, so it’ll be interesting to see if a return to his earlier material will deliver another West End hit.
Merchant isn’t entirely without his acting credits as he’s had a number of movie roles in the last few years following his co-creation of The Office with Ricky Gervais. His recent efforts have included I Give It A Year and Hall Pass, as well as co-writing and directing Cemetery Junction with Gervais, but his most recent project has been his Hello Ladies HBO TV show.
If you don’t quite recognise his stage partner Steffan Rhodri, he played Dave in Gavin & Stacey, as well as having roles in Submarine and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part I.
