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John Boyega: 'Star Wars fans may find my new play Woyzeck a surprise'

After-party: John Boyega with co-star Sarah Greene at the Old Vic: Dave Benett
After-party: John Boyega with co-star Sarah Greene at the Old Vic: Dave Benett

John Boyega has joked that he feels sorry for Star Wars fans who turn up to watch his new play and don’t get what they expected.

The actor, 25, has returned to the London stage for the first time in eight years to star in Woyzeck at the Old Vic. He plays a troubled soldier in the new version of the play, which was left unfinished when its author, the German dramatist Georg Büchner, died from typhus in 1837.

It has been updated by playwright Jack Thorne and is set in Eighties Berlin during the Cold War. Backstage after the first performance last night, Boyega told the Standard: “I feel sorry for the people who came in Star Wars T-shirts! I apologise if it’s not what they’d expected to see. But it’s a great way of showcasing what I’m about. So they know that I care about the quality of entertainment I’m putting out.”

Boyega, who was born in Peckham, began his acting training on the stage in south London before his career took off in film, with a breakout role in Attack The Block in 2011. He then landed his part as Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens which was released in 2015.

He said: “I feel safe on stage because I have been trained for it. I’m just surprised I go home every night with my voice still intact.” He will return to screens as Finn in Star Wars: The Last Jedi this Christmas, but for now he is enjoying his time working so close to his home in Peckham.

He said: “It’s fantastic. I can get home in 15 minutes. I’m on the south side of the river which is something very special. I just like being part of the theatre community. It’s been epic.

“I have great people around me. I just go home and relax and do what any young man would do. I live with my boy [his old friend] Stefan, we chill after work, talk about our day — mine sometimes sounds slightly crazier!”