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Olly Alexander lands West End role after leaving record deal

Steven McIntosh
Entertainment reporter
Danny Kasirye Olly Aleander posing in a bright pink box in a promotional image for The Importance of Being EarnestDanny Kasirye
Alexander will lead the cast of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest in the West End later this year

Singer and actor Olly Alexander has said he has "come into a different space in my life", as he announced a new West End stage role after recently parting ways with his record label.

The star will appear in the National Theatre's production of The Importance of Being Earnest when it transfers to the West End in September.

It will be his first acting role since It's A Sin, Channel 4's acclaimed 2021 drama about the Aids crisis, for which he was nominated for a Bafta Award.

"I'd recently been thinking that I'd love to act again," Alexander told BBC News. "I'd come to the end of my record contract, and I have a bit more breathing space to try a few different things and not feel, oh, well I have to deliver an album to my record label."

He will take over from Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa, who starred in The Importance of Being Earnest when it opened at the National Theatre in 2024.

Alexander will play Algernon when the show moves to the Noel Coward Theatre in London, in collaboration with Sonia Friedman Productions.

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