CARDIFF LIVES
“I went into a sort of meltdown” I saw Barbara Streisand in Hello Dolly on television when I was eight or nine. I touched the screen and I said ‘I want to do that, I want to sing and dance in the street, I want to do what that lady does.’ I always knew that I wanted to be an actor. There was never any plan B. I did every youth theatre that would have me, and every school play. I joined Orbit Theatre who were based on Mill Lane. I also did South Glamorgan Youth Theatre, South Glamorgan Youth Choir. I then went on to National Youth Theatre Wales with Michael Sheen and Ruth Jones amongst others.
RAKIE AYOLA The actor and producer talks about her Cardiff childhood, going off the rails at 14, and her co-star Rhys Ifans Rakie’s extensive acting CV includes Holby City; playing Hermione Granger in the West End production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child; and Doctor Who. She is currently performing at the Sherman Theatre alongside Rhys Ifans and Jason Hughes in On Bear Ridge. Rakie, who was brought up in Cardiff, is married to the actor Adam Smethurst, with whom she has two daughters. Together they run the production company Shanty Productions, which currently has a film production of Twelfth Night available on Amazon and iTunes.
I grew up in Ely, on the west side of Cardiff. I went to Windsor Clive Primary school and Glan Ely High, which later became Michaelston Community
College. I did a diploma in acting at Royal College of Music and Drama, which wasn’t royal when I was there.
I was very well behaved until my mum passed away. I didn’t go completely mad, but I did ecome a different person in lots of ways. Before I would never have back chatted a teacher, but when I was 16 I unravelled completely and that’s when I dropped out of school just before sitting my A levels. I went into a sort of meltdown. I had a place at drama school, so I couldn’t see the point of school any more.
I was raised by my relatives, Olive and Amadu Ball. We lived on Moore Close in a two-bed semi. I stayed there until I was 19 then moved into central ardiff. Olive passed away when I was 14, so that brought with it all the things you might expect.
My first job was at Bessemer Road market on a Sunday selling jeans. I remember one week at the end of my shift my bag was nicked. It had all my pay in it – everything I’d earned that day had disappeared. I had to walk to my rehearsals for Orbit’s show of Music Man (I was one of the village children), and I remember trying so hard not to cry.
When I was a kid we all used to go through Plymouth Woods and play in St Fagan’s Castle which was a lot smaller than it is now. I’m not sure how they really felt about having groups of feral children using the museum as a playground. We used to love running about there and playing in Ely River, despite our parents giving us instructions not to.
I learnt so much from my time on Holby City – how to organise multiple scripts coming in all the time, and holding on to a story line for weeks, if not months. It taught me to make decisions instantly when you’ve had little or no rehearsal. I also got to work with some brilliant people on that show who have become friends.
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It was fascinating being part of the wizarding world of Harry Potter, and I loved the fans. I’ve known Rhys since 1991 when we worked together for BBC Wales. Rhys has an encyclopaedic mind and is warm and funny, and hugely talented. I’ve also known Jason a bit longer but we haven’t worked together before. It’s a joy to be working with them both. I’m not a fluent Welsh speaker, but I can pronounce Welsh, so I can pretend to be a Welsh speaker, as in, I could learn it parrot fashion. I do understand the rules of the language as I did a course many years ago. So if I see a Welsh word I know how to read it, and if I hear Welsh, I can pick out words. But I didn’t stick with it, which is a shame. I love hearing people speak it, particularly when I’m not in Wales. The last meal I ate out in Cardiff was at Conway Pub with my family. We recently went to the Edinburgh Festival as a family. This was o r fifth year, and saw 12 shows in three days. Last year it was 13, so I was slacking a little. My ambitions are to keep earning my living as an actor as well, to meet and learn from as many professionals in this business as I can; to avoid the strange people; and to see our Shanty Productions version of Twelfth Night used by more educational institutions around the world. ■ On Bear Ridge, which is a National Theatre Wales and Royal Court co-production, is premièring at the erma eatre i ardiff ti 5 October before transferring to London’s Royal Court Theatre. For more: www.shermantheatre.co.uk