FOR young actor Olly Alexander the dream has just begun.

The former Coleford schoolboy appears alongside Dame Judi Dench in his West End debut, 'Peter and Alice', and he's still struggling to take it all in.

"It's been very surreal!" he said.

"I can't really believe it. The first few weeks, I was very anxious but I've gotten better now."

The 22-year-old left Coleford for London four-years-ago and appeared in the well-received movie adaptation of Dickens' Great Expectations as well as alongside Jack Black in Gulliver's Travels.

"Great Expectations definitely changed my career," he said.

"You can get chosen in something and you think it might be life changing and then it's not, so you just take the work as it comes."

Olly is delighted to be back on the stage and has enjoying sharing the spotlight with one of the nation's most cherished actresses a the Noel Coward Theatre.

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