Another day, another show in the West End getting ready to open and this time it is the turn of Richard Bean’s play The Mentalists, directed by Abbey Wright.
Rehearsal images have been released, showing Stephen Merchant (The Office, Extras) and Steffan Rhodri (Gavin & Stacey, Harry Potter) hard at work as they prepare to open at the Wyndham’s Theatre from 3rd July until 26th September.
This new production of Richard Bean’s (One Man, Two Guvnors) comedy tells the story of Ted (Merchant) who has a master plan to revolutionise the world and with the help of his best friend Morrie (Rhodri) and his video camera it is sure to work! But soon Morrie suspects that Ted is in trouble with unpaid bills and mysterious phone calls starting to mount – there seems to be only one way out…
Stephen Merchant is known for his collaborations with Ricky Gervais – including his work on Extras, The Office and An Idiot Abroad. The Mentalists marks his theatrical and West End debut.
Meanwhile Steffan Rhodri was last seen in the West End in 2012 in productions of Laura Wade’s Posh and Alan Ayckborn’s Absent Friends. But he is best known for playing Dave Coaches in Gavin & Stacey between 2007 and 2010.
Since first writing The Mentalists, which was originally part of the Transformation season at the National Theatre in 2002, Richard Bean has gone onto score West End successes such as One Man, Two Guvnors and Great Britain – both directed by Nicholas Hytner.
Going on the successfulness of these two shows, this is likely to be another popular show to hit the West End – so if you are a fan of Bean’s work then I would suggest you book your tickets now if you haven’t done so already!
