Olly Alexander and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett on going Wilde in the West End

Two of the stars of Max Webster’s bold, brilliant, and gloriously queer revival of The Importance of Being Earnest talk about bringing it to West End audiences.

Summary

• Olly Alexander and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett are starring opposite each other in Max Webster's revival of Wilde's classic play
• They play two men who both pretend to be named Ernest in order to lead double lives
• Stephen Fry and Hugh Dennis are also among the cast

“I often assume different identities,” quips Olly Alexander, star of The Importance of Being Earnest. “People half recognise me and think I’ve gone to school with them or I work somewhere nearby. Once, I pretended to be cabin crew. But it’s light deception.”

The Years & Years singer and his co-star Nathan Stewart-Jarrett are reflecting on how similar they are to their dishonest characters Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing in Oscar Wilde’s 1895 comedy about two men who each pretend to be named Ernest in order to lead double lives in town and the country. “I don’t think I deceive anyone,” Stewart-Jarrett says cautiously, turning to Alexander and laughing.

The pair — who are working together for a third time following a TV pilot (in which both were recast) and the Years & Years music video for “Real” — were approached by director Max Webster after the show’s successful 2024 National Theatre run, in which Ncuti Gatwa and Sharon D Clarke led a vibrant, boldly queer production. The same care and attention has clearly been given to the West End staging, with Stephen Fry joining Alexander and Stewart-Jarrett in the role of the indomitable Lady Bracknell at the Noël Coward Theatre.

“He is an oracle,” says Stewart-Jarrett of Fry (recently seen on screen in The Traitors). “His knowledge is so expansive. He opens up certain moments of the play and it does influence the way you approach that moment or that line.”

For both Stewart-Jarrett and Alexander, The Picture of Dorian Gray was their way into Wilde. “I was really obsessed with Helmut Berger’s film version from the 1970s,” says Stewart-Jarrett. “I’m interested in compulsion and the idea of hidden evil.” But it is in the last few years that Alexander, in particular, has had his interest in the writer piqued.

“I’ve really gotten into UK gay history and finding figures who were super progressive. In Victorian England, for someone like Oscar Wilde to be as bold, brilliant, courageous, and wild as he was, is so revolutionary. It’s been amazing to dive into his incredible legacy, and he’s still so relevant now,” says Alexander.

There are obvious parallels between Wilde and Alexander, who has raised awareness of LGBT+ bullying, safer sex, and HIV screening in recent years through his campaign work, as well as his appearance in the 1980s-set TV drama It’s a Sin about the AIDS crisis. Alexander’s debut solo album released this year is even called Polari — named after the secret language used by gay men in the 20th century. Alexander says Webster’s queer revival feels “correct and exciting” because “the spirit of Wilde is infused in the production, drawing out some of the queer subtext that was deliberately forced under the radar.”

Stewart-Jarrett, too, has helped to push the boundaries of specifically Black queer representation on screen in the movies Culprits and Femme, and in 2017 he starred in the National Theatre’s revival of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, set during the AIDS epidemic, which then transferred to Broadway. “Angels was the first time that I felt theatre truly was for the audience. To have actual survivors [of AIDS] in the audience, to meet them and know that you were telling their story […] was transformative.”

The seven-hour, two-part epic was gruelling, but had its positives: “I used to have a bath during the first play,” he says. “[And one time], I remember really messing up in the first part, but I just thought, ‘I’ve got seven hours to redeem myself.’ Whereas [after the interval in Earnest], I’ve got an hour and a half!”

Stewart-Jarrett is grateful for the change of pace in Earnest: “I’m always [playing characters who are] miserable, looking for people, using guns… but this is a comedy.” Alexander agrees: “It’s nice not to be this tortured, pained, tragic character.”

They’re also loving the extravagant period dress, and enter a fierce debate about which 19th-century fashion they would bring back today if they could. “I do appreciate a sock suspender,” says Alexander, before Stewart-Jarrett states he’d reintroduce mutton chops. They both agree that tailoring from the period is unmatched, and praise the show’s designer Rae Smith for her incredible designs.

While Algernon and Jack both wear some fabulous costumes in the show, Alexander is adamant that “Algy has to be better dressed than anyone else.”

Speaking of his character, Alexander says: “What I love about Algernon is his real lust for life. He really wants to squeeze the juice out of every moment. I’m not as naturally confident as he is, but I definitely like to embrace the fun. I really relate to his cheekiness and desire to play.”

Earnest marks Alexander’s first return to the stage in 12 years, except for a one-night performance in Nassim Soleimanpour’s White Rabbit Red Rabbit in 2024. Is it nerve-racking being back in the West End after all this time? “I’ve really just been doing music for the past 10 years, and then I managed to fit in It’s a Sin in the middle. I’m led by what excites me, and it is [scary] but I’m so excited because I spend a lot of time on stages and the crowds are always very loud and noisy with drinks. But in the theatre, they’re going to be paying attention!”

With Alexander and Stewart-Jarrett in the leads, Wilde’s fabulous comedy will definitely have the audience’s full attention.

Book The Importance of Being Earnest tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

This article first appeared in the November 2025 issue of London Theatre Magazine.

Photo credit: Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Olly Alexander in The Importance of Being Earnest. Inset: Stephen Fry, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, and Olly Alexander. (Photos by Marc Brenner)