This summer sees Stephen Merchant join Steffan Rhodri in new West End play The Mentalists, and TVO readers have the chance to win a pair of top price tickets to see the production.

The Mentalists is a comic two-hander from Richard Bean, the writer of smash hit comedy One Man, Two Guvnors, and sees Merchant (Life’s Too Short, The Office) make his West End debut alongside Rhodri, who you will no doubt recognise from his appearances in Submarine, Gavin & Stacey, A Touch of Cloth or most recently, Cucumber.

Holed up in a faceless Finsbury Park hotel room, long-standing friends Ted (Merchant), and Morrie (Rhodri) are forced to confront the darker side of their unique relationship. Things unravel as the pressure mounts in this hilarious and touching tale of friendship and utopian visions gone awry.

Directed by rising star Abbey Wright, the production runs for a strictly limited season at the Wyndham’s Theatre from Friday 3 July to Saturday 26 September.

We’re offering readers of the Velvet Onion the chance to win a pair of top price tickets to see the production. To enter, all you have to do is answer this simple question.

What was the name of the classic comedy series packed with TVO regulars in which Stephen Merchant made a cameo appearance as an irate chef?

Send your answers to competitions@thevelvetonion.com by 11:59pm on Sunday 26th April.

One winner will be picked at random, and contacted by our good friends at AKA to arrange tickets for a performance of their choosing on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays during the first ten weeks of the run, give or take a few exception dates.  For more details, see the T&C below. Good luck!

If you don’t win, or just want to see the show, you can buy tickets over yonder. You can see a video featuring the stars of the show, and an early 90s pop classic, below.

This competition offers 1 pair of tickets for any performance of ‘The Mentalists’ at Wyndham’s Theatre between Monday 6th July 2015 and Thursday 10th September 2015, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday performances only – EXCEPT 31st August. The final two weeks of the run (14th September & 21st September) are not included in the choice of dates. The winning entry will be selected at random, from all who correctly answer the question: “What was the name of the classic comedy series packed with TVO regulars in which Stephen Merchant made a cameo appearance as an irate chef?”  The winner will be contacted via the email address they use to enter. Details will not be shared with any additional third parties beyond The Velvet Onion, Delfont Mackintosh Theatres, AKA and the guest-list for the venue.

Only entries made to competitions@thevelvetonion.com will be accepted.  The Velvet Onion will not accept entries as comments to this post, replies to our Facebook/Twitter pages, comments to any other posts in error or emails to any other email address in our domain, nor any entries received after 11:59pm on Sunday, 26th April. This competition is being run entirely by The Velvet Onion, with prizes organised by Delfont Mackintosh Theatres and AKA.  One entry per person. Any entrants found making multiple entries from the same IP address will be disqualified, and banned from entering further competitions run by The Velvet Onion. The judge’s decision is final. There is no monetary value to this competition and no cash alternative will be offered. The winner must choose their preferred performance to attend, and dates/performances cannot be changed.  The winner will be responsible for their own travel and/or related expenses. The Velvet Onion reserves the right to withdraw this competition if any overriding issues arise.