Johnny Vegas Returns to Manchester International Festival

Johnny Vegas returns to Manchester International Festival with a new theatre show in the Festival‘s own performance space, the Pavilion Theatre on Albert Square.Following the success of his darkly original show Interiors, the feel bad hit of MIF 07, Johnny Vegas will make theatrical history this summer in a hugely ambitious show entitled And Another Thing...

Exploring the world of the home shopping TV channel, Vegas, Kevin Eldon and Emma Fryer play three members of a shopping channel team with very different attitudes, aims and aspirations. As we watch them at work behind and literally live in front of the cameras we catch a glimpse of their private and very public lives.

In a unique experiment the show is presented in Theatrivision‘, as Vegas and MIF team up with shopping channel Ideal World. Each performance, Vegas and his cast will be beamed live into the homes of Ideal World‘s TV audience as actual shopping channel presenters selling products - live.

Audiences in the theatre will get to see both sides of these characters - their off air and their live personas. Audiences at home, watching the shopping channel, get the unexpected and entertaining experience of having Vegas and Fryer selling to them while Eldon multi-tasks as his on stage character as well as Ideal World‘s floor manager‘.

Johnny Vegas said: -Pre-recording the selling section would be easier, but where‘s the fun in that? It has to be live and we have to be really selling. It‘s risky, anything could go wrong - but when you see the show you‘ll understand why it can‘t be done any other way.

Alex Poots, Director of MIF said: -We trusted Johnny to create something dramatic, unexpected and totally unique. He hasn‘t disappointed us and we‘re delighted to be presenting And Another Thing... We‘re pleased to be collaborating with Ideal World and look forward to giving our audiences an unforgettable experience.

Mike Hancox CEO of Ideal World said: "All of us at Ideal World were instantly aware of the complexity involved in Johnny's new show. No-one has ever given live selling on TV a major part in a theatrical production -it's unheard of but we know 'world firsts' are what the Manchester International Festival is all about. Johnny called me directly to let me know how Ideal World‘s involvement in this would be ground-breaking for the arts and for shopping telly generally. You can't fault Johnny's, Kevin's and Emma's commitment so I couldn't really say no!? It's taken weeks of planning and perhaps a bit of nail-biting terror but we're absolutely thrilled to be a part of it.