An actor, writer, broadcaster, and disability rights activist, Liz Carr began her career as a disability equality trainer before becoming a comedian. She began acting in her 30s, making her debut in a role no less formidable than Mother Courage. Carr is known for playing Clarissa Mullery in Silent Witness and she won an Olivier Award for her performance as Dr Emma Brookner in The Normal Heart at the National Theatre (the first time the role had been played by a disabled actor). When she and her partner entered into a civil partnership in 2010, the celebration was inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead festival in honour of their deceased friends and family members. Carr next appears in The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs at the Kiln Theatre, which tells the story of a lesbian choir aiming for a spot at the Pride mainstage.

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West End, Broadway, and Hollywood star Cynthia Erivo has been dazzling audiences as Elphaba in the movie musical adaptation of Wicked, with the second instalment Wicked: For Good set for release this autumn. For years, the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda in Wicked been read as queer-coded by many fans, and speaking about her own sexuality to British Vogue in 2022, Erivo said: “I used to say that it felt like I was looking at my own community from inside a glass box. There you all were — vibrant, and beautiful and falling in love and I had my nose pressed up against the glass looking out at all of you separate and apart. It took time for me to outgrow my box.” Erivo returns to the West End to star in a one-actor adaptation of Dracula next year.

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Best known for his role as the mild-mannered Mitchell Pritchett, partner and eventual husband of the extroverted Cameron Tucker in the sitcom Modern Family, Jesse Tyler Ferguson also boasts an impressive array of theatre credits, including originating the role of Leaf Coneybear in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. He and his husband Justin Mikita founded the charity Tie the Knot in 2012, selling bow ties to raise funds in support of same-sex marriage. When Ferguson and Mikita married in 2013, Angels in America playwright Tony Kushner officiated at the wedding. He currently plays Paul Zimmer in Here We Are, Stephen Sondheim’s final musical, at the National Theatre.

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Ncuti Gatwa’s life story is pretty extraordinary. As a small child, he and his family fled Rwanda during the 1994 genocide and settled in Scotland. His breakthrough role was as Eric Effiong in the Netflix series Sex Education, which led to the title role in Doctor Who. Following his dazzling performance in The Importance of Being Earnest at the National Theatre last Christmas, he returns to the stage this autumn to play Christopher Marlowe – playwright, hellraiser, and queer icon – in Liz Duffy Adams’s play Born with Teeth, opposite Edward Bluemel as William Shakespeare.

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Anoushka Lucas began her career as a recording artist and writing music for theatre prior to making her acting debut as Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. She was Olivier-nominated for her performance as Laurey in Daniel Fish’s revisionist production of Oklahoma!, a version in which most of the characters embodied a certain level of queerness. Lucas currently performs her self-penned one-woman show Elephant at the Menier Chocolate Factory, which LondonTheatre.co.uk’s reviewer calls “a miniature powerhouse of a play… Lucas is completely transfixing”.

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Rob Madge began their career as a child actor, including playing Gavroche in Les Misérables’ 25th Anniversary Concert at The O2. As an adult, they are probably best known for their autobiographical show My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do), which explored their childhood as a performer and discovering their non-binary identity. They also starred in Bedknobs and Broomsticks and have made several appearances in the London Palladium’s annual pantomime. Madge is currently starring as the shapeshifting Emcee in Cabaret, opposite Bridgerton star Hannah Dodd as Sally Bowles.

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Jerry Mitchell is one of Broadway’s most successful and prolific director/choreographers. His work includes the LGBT-themed Hairspray, La Cage aux Folles, and Kinky Boots. Mitchell is currently represented in the West End with fashion industry-set musical The Devil Wears Prada (featuring Matt Henry as fabulous gay creative director Nigel). At the 2023 Tony Awards, Mitchell was presented with the honorary Isabelle Stevenson Award in recognition of his contributions to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

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Recently seen in the West End as the Emcee in Cabaret, Billy Porter is now turning his hand to directing. American writer Harrison David Rivers’s play This Bitter Earth deals with an interracial gay couple with different ideas about political advocacy. Porter won a Tony Award for playing drag queen Lola in Kinky Boots, directed for the aforementioned Jerry Mitchell and, like Mitchell, he is the recipient of the Isabelle Stevenson Award – in his case, in recognition for his work with the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and the Entertainment Community Fund. Plus, in 2019, he became the first Black gay man to be nominated in (and win) in any lead acting category at the Primetime Emmys for his performance in the series Pose.

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Georgie Rankcom is a young director specialising in new musicals and revisionist revivals. Rankcom, who is non-binary, previously presented a gender-fluid production of Frank Loesser’s How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying and their production of Stephen Sondheim’s eccentric Ancient Greek pastiche The Frogs is currently playing at Southwark Playhouse Borough. LondonTheatre.co.uk’s reviewer admired the production’s “wild and gleeful absurdity… topical and lighthearted, with no weak links”.

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Actor and singer-songwriter Olly Alexander is set to succeed Ncuti Gatwa as Algernon Moncrieff in Max Webster’s ultra-queer National Theatre production of The Importance of Being Earnest when it transfers to the West End this autumn. Formerly the lead vocalist of the band Years & Years, Alexander represented the UK in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest and released his first album, Polari, under his own name earlier this year. As an actor, Alexander is best known for playing the lead role of Ritchie Tozer in AIDS drama It’s a Sin and he appeared in the experimental White Rabbit, Red Rabbit at @sohoplace.

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