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The Phats & Small singer made headlines in February after his now ex-fiancée Vanessa Feltz, 61, revealed she had split from him – her partner of 17 years – amid claims he’d been unfaithful and exchanged “sex texts” with another woman, which he later confirmed.
Ben Ofoedu has since found solace in his new role as Vinnie Black in the immersive play Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding, which he admitted “saved him”.
The 50-year-old credited his co-stars for helping him get through a “tough” period in his life as he addressed dealing with heckling during the new stage play.
The DJ explained it often depends on the audience but so far the heckling has been kept down to a minimum.
“On a Saturday night you might get a rowdier crowd,” Ben told Express.co.uk. “There will be a lot of heckling. A lot of the things you would get on a Saturday night anywhere.”
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He added: “Then mid-week it will be calmer, subdued. It makes it much more entertaining as actors and being able to work the room.”
The DJ said initially there would be some cheeky banter from the audience but not since has gone on to nail the show script.
“It’s really weird because some of the stuff I do is scripted but in the early days, if someone heckles you, you might lose your place in the script,” Ben continued.
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“Some of the stuff some of the actors are doing is improvisation so it can go anyway.”
He went on: “When it’s scripted, that’s the only thing I’ve had, unexpected heckles at certain times.
“It wouldn’t happen now because I’m across the script but in the first few shows it could when I was finding my feet. The show is so foolproof you can’t really go wrong because it’s just a wedding.”
Addressing the aftermath of his recent break-up, Ben commented: “It was incredibly tough. I’m not used to being demonised and I felt really demonised, and even when I [told the truth] – there is a Latin word for telling the truth – I still felt targeted.
“It was hard to learn the lines but the production team, Ryan, they all really saved my life. It was a safe space to close the door and be an Italian-American for the afternoon.
“Every afternoon we rehearsed and [the director] Larry [Pellegrini] was very patient, the cast was patient with me. It was a beautiful time as I’m looking back.
“If I didn’t have that I don’t know where I would have been or what I would have done.”
He continued: “It was an incredibly challenging time but thank god I had Tony and Tina’s wedding. A play that I didn’t think I was going to get. I just rocked up one morning, thinking what’s the worst that could happen? And it changed my life.”
For more information and tickets to see Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding please visit the website here.
