Hermione role’s
RAKIE Ayola is having a magical time – quite literally. The actress is playing Hermione in the West End production of Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, a two-part play that tells the latest instalment of the Harry Potter story. Her warmth, intelligence and broad stage and screen experience make her a natural choice to play the clever and gifted Hermione and she’s having a fine time bringing the character to life.
“It’s a joy,” she says. “It means I get to do all the things I love – as an actress I really like big theatre, physical theatre, humour and drama – and this story is so dramatic. It’s about parenting and friendship and trying to find your place in the world. I feel very blessed that this is happening at my age.”
Ayola, 49, was born in Ely, Cardiff, and raised by her birth mother’s cousin and his wife, who she refers to as her mother and father. They had the sense to nurture her love of acting, her mother taking her to acting groups from a young age.
“It was never about becoming famous, that wasn’t a concept I had in my head; it was simply that I liked the way I could use my imagination. I liked learning lines, being in a rehearsal room pretending to be someone else, doing accents, wearing different clothes – the whole vibe and smell of theatres. I wanted to spend all day working on scripts and learning lines.”
When she was 14, her adoptive mother died – a massive blow but one that only strengthened her resolve to become a professional actress.
“Thankfully nobody ever told me I couldn’t do it. I think after my mum died, my dad knew there was no stopping me, so he didn’t argue. After being a good student I struggled at school after mum’s death, and in the end, after checking I would still get a grant for college, I decided I wouldn’t go back to school for A-levels.
“I didn’t tell dad – I just let him find out: in the January after I left he discovered I was working in Littlewoods full time. There was a row but there was no way he was winning; I had secured my college place. Whoever it was that signed off my grant is the reason I am here now.”
By the time Ayola’s father died in 2004 he had seen her perform professionally at the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff – a key milestone for Ayola.
“It was great to have him see me being paid to perform; it meant all that stuff my eight or nine year old had spouted had suddenly come to pass.”
Ayola went on to carve a name for herself in the theatre before taking screen roles, including parts in Holby City, Doctor Who, Silent Witness, and Midsomer Murders. A highlight was filming the 1993 film Great Moments in Aviation alongside John Hurt, Vanessa Redgrave and Jonathan Pryce.
“I was learning on camera – it was terrifying, but I realised it was possible to do both stage and screen.”
Over the years she has also learnt to pick roles that she can connect with.
“Sometimes I’m presented with a script for something that I think is going to be amazing but I don’t want to do it. I either click with a character or I don’t. In some cases I have no idea if the production is going to work, but I just want to play that part. Other times I get offered the opportunity to work with a fab actress but I have no desire to say anything that character says – so I know I wouldn’t be able to do my best work.”
While she’s a sociable person herself, she is especially drawn to playing outsiders.
“I like people like Hermione because, although she had her friendship group in school, she was the only girl and was different. I’m interested in women that seem to float around by themselves, and in exploring why they are on the outside.”
Asked what advice she would give for remaining so busy in the notoriously difficult and competitive world of acting, she says that being selective is in fact a useful habit.
“Don’t lose sight of the fact that you have chosen to earn your living from it. You can easily get trapped in endless unpaid acting jobs – so be careful about saying yes to everything: sometimes you go further by saying no, because it leaves you open to the next thing.”
Her most challenging acting experiences have involved realising during a shoot that the finished product will not be a success but having to soldier on anyway.
“You have a sense that the ship is going to hit an iceberg and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. On a set, the first people to recognise that the ship is going down are the camera crew – so you learn to watch how they interact with the director and the producer. If you see that they are dong the bare minimum every day, that is equivalent of them staying really close to the lifeboats. In a situation like that, don’t go out on a limb – just do what is asked quickly and efficiently so that when the reviews come in, it wasn’t your fault. Those are the challenging jobs because there is no way of getting off the boat.”
Throughout her screen career she has