Vegas unveils his first theatre piece

Johnny Vegas has unveiled his first theatre work – a collaboration with Stewart Lee about Britain’s property obsession.

Interiors will premiere at the first-ever Manchester International Festival, a highbrow arts event which starts on June 28.

Speaking at the festival’s launch, Vegas promised: ‘I'm breaking free of what theatre ought to be.’

In Interiors, which he co-wrote with Lee, Vegas plays a homeowner selling his £235,000 property to pursue ‘development opportunities" in Montenegro’, while the audience are the prospective buyers.

‘I'm forcing myself to get in touch with my metrosexual side,’ he said. ‘Normally, I sit in the car park when the family goes to Ikea.

‘I've promised everyone I'd not say too much about it because it's so hard to talk about it without giving the game away.

‘I've never written a theatre piece before, but, whatever medium you're working in, you should always write about what you know. And everyone knows about property, don't they? We're all obsessed by it.

‘I hate to use the word accessible, but I'm hoping that this is a theatre piece for those who maybe haven't been to the theatre before.

‘For me, it's an opportunity to work in the theatre without getting too daunted by it.’

And he said he had high hopes for the festival.

‘Everyone used to think that you should head to London to make it in stand-up,’ he said. ‘Now it seems like the common sense thing to do is to leave London for Manchester to get ahead. I’m very proud of my roots.’

Others involved in the festival include Damon Albarn, who has provided the music for a new circus opera based on Chinese legend; Carlos Acosta, who is hailed as the world’s greatest male ballet dancer; chef Heston Blumenthal who will create the food for the event; plus gigs from Kanye West, Lou Reed, PJ Harvey, The Happy Mondays and The Fall.

Lee previously directed Vegas’s live DVD, Who’s Ready For Ice Cream, filmed at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Published: 21 Mar 2007