Olly Alexander will star as Algernon in the The Importance of Being Earnest West End transfer. (© Danny Kasiyre)

Olly Alexander Is Algernon In The West End Transfer Of The Importance Of Being Earnest

Olly Alexander will star as Algernon in the The Importance of Being Earnest West End transfer. (© Danny Kasiyre)

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Olly Alexander Is Algernon In The West End Transfer Of The Importance Of Being Earnest

9 hours ago

The National Theatre’s sell-out production is making a return

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Theatregoers flocked in droves to The National Theatre last year to see Ncuti Gatwa and Hugh Skinner’s hot pink Oscar Wilde reboot. And now The Importance of Being Earnest is making a return – with a new star in the lead role.

The Importance Of Being Earnest Transfers To The West End

Directed by Max Webster, The National Theatre’s joyful and flamboyant Oscar Wilde reboot was a critical and commercial success when it ran at the tail end of 2024 and beginning of 2025. Max says he is ‘ecstatic’ his production is transferring to the West End: ‘The creative team and I really wanted to honour Oscar Wilde’s life and work and celebrate his legendary wit, fabulousness and imaginative freedom with this production. We found that the play felt amazingly fresh and contemporary, and there was an incredible audience response night after night during its original run at the National Theatre.

‘I can’t wait to share this production again, with audiences in the West End,’ Max adds, ‘and am especially excited to work with Olly Alexander who I am certain will create a new and fabulous take on Wilde’s iconic character Algenon Moncreiff.’

Olly Alexander Stars As Algernon Moncrieff

Ncuti Gatwa’s camp portrayal of Algernon captivated audiences across The Importance of Being Earnest’s original run, but now the Doctor Who star is handing the baton to Olly Alexander. Best known for his work in the band (and then solo project) Years & Years, Olly has also starred in the likes of Russell T Davies’ It’s A Sin and The Riot Club (2014) and says he is ‘over the moon to be returning to a West End stage’ (he starred in Peter and Alice at the Noel Coward Theatre in 2013).

The announcement follows Olly coming to the end of his record contract, which he describes as ‘for the best’, with the singer telling the BBC, ‘I’d recently been thinking that I’d love to act again.’

‘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 said.

Olly Alexander in It’s A Sin (© Channel 4)

‘I’ve always hugely admired Wilde,’ Olly adds on the news of The Importance of Being Earnest. ‘He’s a true icon, not only a hugely successful and influential 19th century writer but also a trailblazing queer artist who fearlessly pushed against the expectations of society. He was a pioneer of LGBTQ+ rights before such a thing existed and I’m so excited and proud to get the chance to inhabit his work.’

No news just yet on who Olly will be joined by. The original cast was as follows: