Sonia Friedman Productions and Tulchin Bartner Productions present Ben Ashenden And Alex Owen Comedy THE COMEBACK

Sonia Friedman Productions and Tulchin Bartner Productions in association with Playing Field, Eilene Davidson Productions, Rupert Gavin/Mallory Factor, David Mirvish present

THE COMEBACK

A new comedy by Ben Ashenden and Alex Owen

PERFORMANCES BEGAN ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8TH – AT THE NOEL COWARD THEATRE. THE RUN MUST END ON JANUARY 3RD 2021

HILARIOUS AND HEARTWARMING, THE COMEBACK DEPICTS THE BACKSTAGE TUSSLE OF TWO RIVAL COMEDY DUOS IN A DIZZYING CONTEMPORARY FARCE​

THE EDINBURGH FRINGE FAVOURITES BEHIND HIT RADIO 4 AND AUDIBLE SHOWS HAVE WON A HUGE TWITTER FOLLOWING DURING LOCKDOWN WITH A SERIES OF VIRAL ZOOM PARODIES

A SURPRISE GUEST STAR WILL JOIN THE SHOW NIGHTLY

THE PRODUCTION WILL TAKE PLACE UNDER SOCIAL DISTANCING GUIDELINES AT THE NOEL COWARD THEATRE FROM DECEMBER 8TH – JANUARY 3rd.

OVER 1,000 TICKETS A WEEK AVAILABLE AT £25 OR UNDER

The Comeback, a brilliantly original and hilarious new comedy, is set to delight all generations at the Noel Coward Theatre this December. This debut play from The Pin’s award-winning Ben Ashenden and Alex Owen – ‘destined to become one of the great comedy duos’ (Radio Times) – tells the story of two double acts fighting to wrest control of the most chaotic, farcical and high-stakes gig of their respective careers. Directed by Emily Burns, The Comeback will have audiences doubled over laughing and wiping a tear away at the end with its heart-warming exploration of bittersweet nostalgia and the enduring power of friendship. This show is a much needed dose of feel-good, dizzying escapism with real emotional heart, and a celebrity guest each night to boot.

Up-and-coming comics Alex and Ben have been booked in the warm-up spot for a beloved but fading double act’s comeback tour. Neither duo are delighted to be playing to a sparse crowd in a sleepy, seaside town, but when it’s revealed that a Hollywood director is in the audience, both acts glimpse a final chance for their big break. Cue sabotage, mistaken identity and full on farcical mayhem, as the performance descends into a desperate battle for the limelight. With the action alternating between offstage and on, and the tone between Noises Off and Morecambe and Wise’s old-school charm, this is a warm-hearted, joyful, and dazzlingly funny new comedy.

Each night Ashenden and Owen will be joined on stage by a surprise celebrity guest star playing a cameo role in the production.

Previous praise for The Pin:
“Destined to become one of the great comedy duos” - Radio Times
“Exquisitely silly and very funny...makes you feel as though you might be hearing the next Mitchell and Webb” - The Times
“One of the most dazzling comedy shows in Edinburgh” ★★★★ Guardian
"I had a knot in my stomach from laughing so much" ★★★★ Times
“A very classy, very funny show indeed” ★★★★ Telegraph
“Will simply make you laugh your socks off” ★★★★ Evening Standard
"This absurdist deconstruction of the sketch show is masterful” ★★★★ Sunday Times
“A bulletproof nugget of comic theatre” Guardian

The production, which is the first produced by SFP since lockdown, will play at the Noel Coward Theatre. Audiences and company will observe social distancing guidelines and strict COVID-secure protocols. All practices will be following the most up-to-date government guidance and SOLT’s ‘See It Safely’ campaign.

Tickets for the production which is running at the Noel Coward Theatre until January 3rd are available here.

Find THE COMEBACK on Facebook: @TheComebackComedy, Twitter and Instagram: @TheComebackPlay

#TheComeback

LISTINGS

Sonia Friedman Productions presents
THE COMEBACK

Written by and starring Ben Ashenden and Alex Owen (known as The Pin)
Directed by Emily Burns
Set and Costume Design by Rosanna Vize
Lighting Design by Prema Mehta
Sound Design by Giles Thomas

First performance 8th December 7.30pm
Final performance 3rd January 7.30pm
Performance schedule: Tuesday to Sunday at 7.30pm, Saturday and Sunday at 2.30pm
Tickets from £10

About BEN ASHENDEN and ALEX OWEN
BEN ASHENDEN and ALEX OWEN have recorded four series of their critically lauded show 'The Pin' for BBC Radio 4, picking up nominations at the Writers Guild Awards and Radio Academy Awards, and winning the BBC Radio Award for Best Comedy. This summer, Audible launched their latest comedy series The Special Relationship, following a rising British double act in its attempt to into America’s comedy circuit.

They've created the animated series 'Oi, Leonardo!' for BBC3, and written for BBC1 shows 'Walliams and Friend’ and 'Tracey Ullman's Show,' BBC3 series ‘Famalam,’ and Show-time’s ‘Who is America?’ Having won a wide following with a series of brilliantly observed and sharply witty spoof Zoom videos released on Twitter, capturing the absurdity of life in lockdown, they count Stephen Fry, Jack Whitehall, Grace Dent and David Walliams amongst their celebrity fans and will soon star in the next JURASSIC PARK movie in comic roles written specifically for them.

As performers, Ben's credits include 'Bridget Jones Baby,' ‘Avenue 5,' (HBO) and W1A,' (BBC1) and Alex's include ‘Victoria,' (ITV) ‘Crackanory,' (Dave) and ‘Wannabe.' (BBC3) They have both appeared in ‘Stath Lets Flats’ (C4) and recent Sky Christmas special ‘After Ever After.’

About EMILY BURNS
EMILY BURNS is Resident Director at the National Theatre. Directing work includes: Travesty for Fight in the Dog; Nesting (The Watermill); Britney (Soho Theatre); Margaret Atwood Live for Fane Productions; The Other Side of the Sea (King’s Place); Esio Trot (Edinburgh Fringe). As Associate Director: Antony & Cleopatra and Hansard (National Theatre); The Book of Dust, Julius Caesar and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Bridge). As dramaturg, Timon of Athens for the RSC, TFANA New York, STC Washington; Much Ado About Nothing (STC, Washington).

About SONIA FRIEDMAN PRODUCTIONS
SONIA FRIEDMAN PRODUCTIONS (SFP) is an international production company responsible for some of the most successful theatre productions in London and New York.

Since 1990, SFP has developed, initiated and produced over 170 new productions and together the company has won a staggering 55 Olivier Awards, 30 Tonys and 2 BAFTAs.

In 2019, Sonia Friedman OBE was awarded ‘Producer of the Year’ at the Stage Awards for a record breaking fourth time. In 2018, Friedman was also featured in TIME 100, a list of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. In 2017 she took the number one spot in 'The Stage 100', becoming the first number one in the history of the compilation not to own or operate West End theatres and the first solo woman for almost 20 years.

Current productions include: the UK premiere of The Book of Mormon, West End and UK & European Tour, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in London, New York, Melbourne, San Francisco & Hamburg, Mean Girls at the August Wilson Theatre, New York & US Tour, and the world premiere of Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt at Wyndham’s Theatre, London.

Forthcoming productions include: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in Toronto & Tokyo, To Kill a Mockingbird at the Gielgud Theatre, London, The Shark is Broken at the Ambassadors Theatre, London, Semmelweis starring Mark Rylance at Bristol Old Vic, Hamlet at Park Avenue Armory, New York, Oresteia at Park Avenue Armory, New York, Dreamgirls UK Tour and Oedipus starring Helen Mirren and Mark Strong.  

Previous theatre productions include: Uncle Vanya, Fiddler on the Roof, Rosmersholm, The Ferryman, The Inheritance, Summer and Smoke, Dreamgirls, The Jungle, All About Eve, Consent, The Birthday Party, Ink, Hamlet starring Andrew Scott, Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Travesties, The Glass Menagerie, Nice Fish, A Christmas Carol, Funny Girl, Farinelli and The King, Hamlet starring Benedict Cumberbatch, 1984, Sunny Afternoon, Bend It Like Beckham, The Nether, The River, Electra, King Charles III, Shakespeare in Love, Ghosts, Mojo, Chimerica, Merrily We Roll Along, Old Times, Twelfth Night and Richard III, A Chorus of Disapproval, The Sunshine Boys, Hay Fever, Absent Friends, Top Girls, Betrayal, Much Ado About Nothing, Clybourne Park, The Children’s Hour, A Flea in Her Ear, La Bête, All My Sons, Private Lives, Jerusalem, A Little Night Music, Legally Blonde, Othello, Arcadia, The Mountaintop, The Norman Conquests, A View From the Bridge, Dancing at Lughnasa, Maria Friedman: Re-Arranged, La Cage aux Folles, No Man’s Land, The Seagull, Under the Blue Sky, That Face, Dealer’s Choice, Hergés Adventures of Tintin, In Celebration, Boeing-Boeing, The Dumb Waiter, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Love Song, Faith Healer, Bent, Eh Joe, Donkeys’ Years, Otherwise Engaged, Celebration, Shoot the Crow, As You Like It, The Home Place, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, By the Bog of Cats, The Woman in White, Guantanamo: ‘Honor Bound to Defend Freedom’, Endgame, Jumpers, See You Next Tuesday, Hitchcock Blonde, Absolutely! {Perhaps}, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Ragtime, Macbeth, What the Night Is For, Afterplay, Up for Grabs, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Noises Off, On an Average Day, A Servant to Two Masters, Port Authority, Spoonface Steinberg and Speed-The-Plow.

Film and TV productions include Uncle Vanya, BBC’s Wolf Hall (co-producer), The Dresser (Exec Producer) and King Lear with Anthony Hopkins (Exec Producer).