Award for a real-life Billy Elliot
We meet award-winning North East youngster
A real-life Billy Elliot who danced his way into the national spotlight has won a top award at the age of just 10.
Talented Elliot Stiff, who trained at Birtley in Gateshead, landed the role of Michael in the UK tour of Billy Elliot the Musical and has been impressing audiences and critics ever since.
Now all that hard work has paid off and the youngster – who shares part of Billy Elliot’s story, as well as his name – has won a best newcomer award.
Elliot was recognised at the Manchester Theatre Awards alongside three other boys who share the part of Michael – Billy’s best friend in the much-loved tale.
He is the youngest ever to take on the role and he is enjoying making it his own as the musical – inspired by the 2000 North East-set film, written by Newcastleborn Lee Hall and starring Jamie Bell – enjoys a nationwide tour.
It might not be stopping off on his North East home turf this time but he has already appeared at Sunderland Empire after joining the cast last year.
In another similarity with the fictional Billy, Elliot is the only one of the boys playing Michael to come from the North East. The youngster, from Oxclose in Washington, did his training at Buzz Dance Company in Birtley and learned a range of dance styles, from freestyle and disco to ballet and contemporary.
He said: “I started around six or seven with freestyle because I didn’t know what I wanted to do but after about a year I wanted to try other options and started to do ballet.”
He added: “My dance teacher and mam really encouraged me.”
It was his mother who helped him get his first audition for Billy Elliot and about 13 more auditions were to follow.
“It was just amazing to hear I’d got through the first audition,” he said. “But then the hard work really started!”
His parents, Lyndsey and Darren, 17-year-old sister Brogan and nan Margaret all proved a huge support to him and hearing the news he’d been picked for the role was an emotional moment.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Elliot. “I was on my way to dance school when my nan got the phone call and she started to cry – and I started to cry!”
He has played Michael since February last year and said: “I’m absolutely loving it and I definitely want to carry on doing it.”
He’s always loved the Billy Elliot film, which he would regularly watch, and appearing in the stage version is the “best feeling you can have”.
His future ambitions are to have more of the same. “I want to dance and act and sing in musical theatre,” he said. “I’ve big dreams!”
In between his stage commitments, which he shares with the other three boys, he must keep up his schooling. His school pals back home, meanwhile, are hugely supportive of his success.
There is one chief difference from his fictional namesake, who would bunk off his dreaded football lessons to attend ballet class. Elliot enjoys football and plays for his local team Washington Tigers.