A magical experience!
remained a prolific stage actress – and it was through the theatre that she met her husband, the actor Adam Smethurst, son of Love Thy Neighbour star Jack Smethurst. “It wasn’t love at first sight, it was a slow burn. Initially we were just colleagues. We first met while doing Hamlet, then two years later we met again in Twelfth Night. One day, after we had been on the road for a couple of weeks, I thought, ‘Oh! I like you’, and it went from there.”
The couple live in Greenwich, although Rakie still loves to visit Cardiff.
“I miss the size of it and the warmth, but I’m lucky to have found a part of London that replicates that,” she says.
Being married to a fellow actor brings its challenges, especially with a family to raise: the couple have two daughters, Tansy, 13 and Shani, nine.
“We’re so used to juggling now. I don’t know if we get any better at it but we are used to doing it and we have some terrific friends who we lean on a lot. In one way it’s good that we’re both actors because we understand the process – the ups and downs, the highs and lows.”
They have also had to cope with Tansy’s diagnosis with a genetic disorder called neurofibromatosis, or NF1, which can cause tumours to form on any of your nerve endings. Usually these are benign, but they can cause numerous complications, including blindness and bone deformities.
NF1 can go undiscovered for years. Tansy’s was discovered by chance when a doctor noticed she had a number of coffee-coloured birth marks on her body. Having six or more of these marks is a common indicator of NF1, and in her case it led to diagnosis in 2012. Since then, Tansy has had to undergo multiple neurosurgeries, but she has come through it well and is ready to start her GCSEs.
While searching for support and advice on her daughter’s condition, Ayola discovered the Childhood Tumour Trust, a charity that supports families coping with the effects of NF1.
“Finding them was massive for me: the mutual support is invaluable; it means a lot to know you can turn to someone else who has been there.”
She has become a patron of the charity and is currently supporting its campaign for the inclusion of body maps as standard procedure in the Red Book, which accompanies every baby throughout their first few years of life.
“This could lead to NF1 being detected much earlier through the recording of coffee-coloured marks – and identify complications that can severely impact on a child’s quality of life,” she says.
Meanwhile, she’s engaged in plenty of work projects, not least the online release of a new film version of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night she produced with Smethurst. Filmed in modern dress on location in West Sussex, it was a massive undertaking, but an experience Ayola is cautiously considering repeating.
“We had never done anything like that before – it was a bit like giving birth!” she says. “Now I feel I maybe could do it again – at least, we are no longer saying ‘never’.”
Ayola has also continued her on-screen work, playing actress Michaela Coel’s mother in the musical film Been so Long, which Netflix bought for a record UK deal last year.
Having been vocal over the years about the need for more and better roles for actors from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, she is pleased at how things are improving.
“The situation is changing in a brilliant way; I have friends who are winning awards and excellent roles at an age where you might think roles would be drying up. BAME actors, directors and writers winning awards is not the most important marker of change – BAME creatives being offered work that is deemed eligible for awards is where the difference can be seen.
“That doesn’t take away from the thousands of people of colour and not of colour who cannot get a gig in the acting world, but I think we are increasingly taking care of each other and banding together. I would encourage actors to regularly get together in a room with other actors, just to create some energy rather than hiding under the bed, waiting for the agent to ring. Whether it’s in a forum or in a café sharing stories, it can help us all move forward and effect change.”
She also remains fully committed to her role as Hermione – a highlight of which is getting to meet delighted Harry Potter fans at the stage door after the show and hearing their stories about how they connected with Harry Potter.
“They talk about bullying at school, mental illness, depression and how they identify with the characters and their loneliness. They are extraordinary because they are so honest and so open – it’s really humbling.”
She also loved having Harry Potter creator JK Rowling in the audience.
“We were so nervous knowing she was there but she was lovely and really complimentary. It was an extraordinary honour to have the woman who started the whole thing watching us. Afterwards she was lovely and really open and warm and we all stood there smiling and couldn’t think of anything to say! It was lovely to meet her; she has created an extraordinary thing; only through the play have I understood just how extraordinary.”
The good news is that Ayola loves Hermione just as much as her fans – and despite juggling an extraordinary number of projects, she isn’t planning on stopping any time soon.
“All I can tell you is that I am not ready to let her go. I love her so much, and I’m so grateful to the fans for trusting me with her.”
Harry Potter And The Cursed Child is at the Palace Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue.
The Childhood Tumour Trust’s website is childhoodtumourtrust.org.uk