Cardle’s cleaned up his act to waltz into the Strictly Ballroom

SINGER Matt Cardle has ‘purged his demons’ and cleaned up his act — motivated by the release of a new album and a return to the West End to replace Will Young in Strictly Ballroom. Cardle takes on the freewheeling role of Wally Strand — a kind of all-singing, all-dancing audience representative on stage — in the theatre adaptation of Baz Luhrmann’s 1992 film about a young dancer in Sydney who wants to revolutionise the stuffy, highly regulated ballroom steps. It marks Cardle’s return to the boards after acting opposite Beverley Knight in Memphis three years ago: a role that didn’t require much dancing. Strictly Ballroom, as directed and choreographed by an exacting Drew McOnie, is a very different proposition, Cardle told me. ‘I’ll be down the gym to get ready for rehearsals. Pulling a hamstring because you’re not prepared is not a good look,’ he added. ‘Also, the chance I have now is to take the role and build on what Will did. Wally is whatever you want him to be, because he’s a blank canvas,’ Cardle explained of the role he’ll perform at the Piccadilly Theatre from July 31. The singer said he has calmed down since escaping from ‘the strange dark place’ he found himself in after doing X Factor followed by three albums in three years. He wound up in the Priory but emerged ‘sober’, and has remained so. He said he feels he is ‘back in the game’ and was particularly proud to be releasing his new record, Time To Be Alive, via Sony. ‘Being sober is one thing but being with Sony and doing Strictly Ballroom is a real affirmation I have come back.’ His previous unhealthy fixation with prescription pills and alcohol lent his last album ‘depth and feeling’ because, he said, it allowed him to experience a different side of life. But that’s it now. ‘I’ve purged those demons,’ he insisted.