21 NOVEMBER 2002
She's almost as well known these days for her pert bottom as she is for her musical talents, but Aussie songstress Kylie Minogue has signed up to assume a very different persona for her West End debut. She is to play a rotund friar for a one-off performance of the Morcambe and Wise tribute The Play What I Wrote, directed by Kenneth Brannagh.

The I Should Be So Lucky vocalist will don a fat suit in her role as Fat Father Bug-Eye for a special performance in aid of the Prince's Trust. And it is rumoured that she'll be joined on stage by a very special co-star – royal thespian Prince Charles – who she got to know when they were seated side-by-side at a Vogue magazine dinner last year.

"Kylie is thrilled to be appearing in the play," confirmed her spokesperson. "She really supports the Prince's Trust so she's even more excited about it."

Past celebrities to have appeared in the oeuvre include Ralph Fiennes, Minnie Driver, Jerry Hall and Roger Moore.