Northumberland man's West End dream comes true as he lands Billy Elliot role
A Northumberland man who appealed for help to get to drama school is making his West End debut in the very show that inspired him to pursue theatre.
In 2023, Aidan Stuart from Broomhill was just one of 40 people offered a place at Arts Ed in London out of thousands who applied globally.
The offer was a dream come true for Aidan who fell in love with performing after taking to the stage at Alnwick Playhouse at just 10-years-old.
However, the extremely high fees of the school meant that he set out to raise £10,000 to fund him in a year of studying.
Thanks to community support and scholarships, Aidan’s dream was made a reality, and now he has graduated and landed a role in the West End production of Billy Elliot – a show he says inspired him from early childhood.
Aidan said: "Billy Elliot is a show about a little boy from Newcastle who just wants to dance and, coming from the North myself, I grew up wanting the same thing.
"As a kid, this is sort of the show that got me into doing all this. It feels quite surreal. I don’t think it’s actually sunk in yet.”
Aidan is a ‘swing’ in the production meaning he covers several ensemble roles as well as featured roles including Big Davey.
Coming full-circle, Aidan will return to the region to launch the show at the Sunderland Empire on November 4.
He said: “Since I landed the role, a lot of people that have said they've been following my journey and are going to try and come and see me in Sunderland.”