SPOTLIGHT...

Brian Butler catches up with queer stage performer Layton Williams, star of Billy Elliot and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

West End star Layton Williams started young, with the encouragement of his parents, taking dance and singing lessons. ”I really enjoyed being the centre of attention and being fabulous – I always went the extra mile at Halloween“.

His first stage role came at primary school playing Capt Hook in Peter Pan, but in our conversation we leap forward to his big break. “My mum saw an advert – a call-out for auditions for the musical Billy Elliot. So we had the day out in Manchester for it. I can’t quite believe it. I had no CV, but went through round after round and I was still there. I improvised and fluked my way through it. No one looked like me but then I saw an Asian boy who has become one of my closest friends.”

That boy was Matthew Koon, who became the first non-white Billy. But Layton was also singled out and spent a year learning the part. I asked if he was conscious he was breaking new ground as the first mixed-race actor to play the part. “Not really, I was just getting on with it, in a Billy bubble. I had a quiet confidence – I knew I deserved it.”

So aged 12, he played Billy in the West End, and later starred as the young Michael Jackson in Thriller – Live, on TV in Beautiful People and Bad Education, and on stage in Rent, Hairspray, Kiss Me Kate and Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man. He began playing Jamie in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie in the West End in 2019 when the pandemic struck, but has now resumed the role in its UK tour.

Asked if he was worried about being typecast in gender fluid or gay roles, he said: “I’m having the best time. I’ve done male romantic leads but I love being queer and telling queer stories, so why the fuck would I care? It’s an honour. I want to do credible work across all genres, as long as I’m pushing myself “.

Asked the vexed question of whether queer characters should be played by queer actors, he’s clear: “Queer people will be better at queer parts. There are less opportunities for queer actors – it’s closer to my personal experiences of being queer. You can’t fake it”.

The current UK tour of Jamie brings him to Brighton this month. “I was a bit worried about doing it again after so long – I asked if I could enjoy it? I’m having the best time. We’re playing to 1,800 people a night who are out of their seats. Every time I step on stage it’s a new show. It’s hard to get bored.” And he’s now the longest running Jamie; “I’m way less frantic this time. I believe in myself and enjoy the show.

”I love, love, love Brighton. I only go in the summer but I’ll embrace the weather with my mittens and hat. I have many memories – I took my boyfriend there for his birthday this year.”

Asked how lockdown had been for him, Layton said: ”For me, not as bad as it could’ve been. I worked online and we lived in a countryside cottage. I just relaxed and watched crap TV. It was difficult to go back to eight shows a week: the stamina you need for that and touring is gruelling, but I’ve found my groove.”

And when the UK tour ends, Layton will be going with the show to Los Angeles. “I feel great about that – if I hadn’t come back to Jamie I wouldn’t be going. I went to LA for a month on vacation, but I can’t believe Jamie is going there. As the song says: I see my future standing tall. It’s going to be LA LA Layton!”

Asked to give advice to that 12-year-old Layton, he tells me: ”Relax a little bit. You don’t always have to be on 100. Just be a kid a little bit more – I missed a lot by performing early. The sooner you can be happy and who you are, the better. Use your life, live the truth”.

Layton stars in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, alongside Bianca Del Rio at Brighton’s Theatre Royal from December 7 to January 2.

For tickets, visit: www.atgtickets.com