The Unfriend Tickets
Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss' dark comedy The Unfriend returns to the West End!The age guidance is 14+
Performance dates
15 December 2023 - 9 March 2024
Run time 1 hour 55 minutes (including interval)
Includes interval
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Tickets for The Unfriend are now available to purchase!
The Unfriend is returning to the West End after a critically acclaimed run at The Criterion and an incredible sold-out run at The Chichester Festival Theatre. What begins as a casual encounter is about to take a sinister turn, as holiday friend, Elsa, does the unforgivable and accepts a couple’s invitation to ‘keep in touch.’ Witness this thrilling story of murder and manners, book your tickets to The Unfriend today!
What is The Unfriend about?
Whilst vacationing couple Pete and Debbie cross paths with the lusty Elsa, a widow from the USA. Despite her devotion to trump and her less-than-woke views, there seems to be something endearing about the lonely woman. After agreeing to stay in touch (but thinking nothing of it) Pete and Debbie return home to resume their lives of normality, that is until Elsa invites herself to stay with the couple a few months later.
Pete and Debbie investigate their new friend on the internet, after all it’s better to be safe than sorry...however, what they discover makes them wish they had never looked at all. Shaken to their very core and desperate to cancel Elsa’s impending visit, the pair hear the dreaded noise of the doorbell.
What began as an innocent holiday encounter has now turned into a game of cat and mouse. Pete and Debbie know that they must protect their children, but even in the face of a potential murderer, they can’t help but be utterly polite. After all, you can’t die of embarrassment...can you?
The cast and creatives of The Unfriend
This murderously funny dark play is written by Steven Moffat and directed by Mark Gatiss, the collaborative team behind BBC’s cult series Sherlock. The production’s star-studded cast includes BAFTA Award-winning comedian Lee Mack (Not Going Out, Would I Lie To You) as Pete and Sarah Alexandra (Smack The Pony, Coupling) as Debbie. Frances Barber (Silk, Doctor Who) will be reprising her role as Elsa.
Tickets for The Unfriend are available now!
Unlike her famous animated namesake, Elsa won’t let her friendship with the couple go! Want to see how this twisted tale unfolds? Book tickets for The Unfriend today!
Access
Captioned performance: 15 February at 7.30pm, Audio Described performance: 25 January at 7.30pmRecent Reviews
As visitors to London we wanted to see a typical British comedy, and this was perfect! The acting was sublime, and the story was a lot of fun. Highly recommend this production.
I walked out.
Was not funny at all ..wish we left earlier..wasted our money ..Disappointed ..we like Lee mack but not in this..
Total crap,not amusing at all
It was quite funny but too much farce for me, I like my comedy a bit more subtle
Great fun.
My kids and I enjoyed The Unfriend - the kids are BIG Lee Mack fans! The whole cast were excellent, lots of energy and very funny. We loved it!
Light-hearted, humourous and entertaining! Was laughing throughout and brilliant acting by all the cast. An excellent production!
Loved this. Good clean laugh out loud comedy of manners. I thoroughly enjoyed this show. The cast were all excellent.all were top rate. Francis Barber was fabulous and Lee Mack played it just right. Highly recommend
Really good funny play with great casting and well written. Lee Mack basically plays himself as he is on Not Going out and Would I Lie and Frances Barber does a great touch of humour and menace combined. Sarah Alexander is also very good and should be on the telly more. The rest of the cast give great support. The police officer has echoes of Everybody loves Raymond and we we’ve probably all had a neighbour like that. We had seats in mid row Royal circle. Good view and lovely old theatre. Little Italian restaurant Fiori just across the road. Good for lunch/dinner and not overly expensive
Excellent performance by all , Lee Mack at his best and outstanding performance from all, highly recommended by a friend after she had seen it and she wasn’t wrong
Brilliant, Hilarious, Epic Lee Mack
Critics Reviews
'★★★★ ‘Comic magic. An impeccable production’ ‘A joyously funny play from Sherlock’s Steven Moffat’ '
'★★★★ ‘Team Sherlock have reunited for] A viciously funny and dark comedy with a top-notch cast' '
'★★★★ ‘Two hours of undiluted escapism – it’s heavenly! A rollicking night out’ '
'★★★★ ‘A riotous bit of fun’ '
Latest The Unfriend News
News / Interviews / New Shows + Transfers
Quick questions with The Unfriend cast
Christmastime is all about family, and that’s especially true for fictional siblings Maddie Holliday (Rosie) and Jem Matthews (Alex), ‘I see my brother, my sister-in-law and my niece and nephew,’ Maddie gushed, whereas Jem is travelling to the Cotswolds to reunite with his relatives ‘seeing family on Boxing Day is a tradition.’
That doesn’t mean that these fictious family members are always nice to their biological brothers, however. ‘I play Hungry Heart by Bruce Springsteen on a loop around Christmas. It really annoys my brother because it isn’t a proper Christmas song! I’m still trying to convince him it is…’
Another Christmas tradition Maddie may have had when she was younger? Watching the Countryfile Christmas special ‘Matt Baker was my first celebrity crush’. Whereas Jem looked to the other side of the (country) pond for his first crush ‘when I was about 11, I saw About Time for the first time, and I thought I had died when Margot Robbie came on the screen.’ We hope someone brought a defibrillator to the Barbie screening!
After that blast from Christmas past, we settled down with The Unfriend cast members to discuss how they spend Christmas present.
21 Dec, 2023 | By Sian McBride
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