Most recently on stage, Ayrton English played Douglas in the West End transfer of Shadowlands alongside Hugh Bonneville as C. S. Lewis and Maggie Siff as Joy Davidman, performing at the Aldwych Theatre, having played Michael Hobbs in Elf the Musical at the same theatre over Christmas 2025. In the world premiere of Inter Alia, Ayrton originated the role of Young Harry last year at National Theatre for his first play (with Rosamund Pike starring), with his previous musical theatre productions being the National Tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as Jeremy Potts, Love Never Dies in China as Gustave and A Christmas Carol as Tiny Tim for his first professional role. As a screen actor, Ayrton plays Tommy in the new Netflix comedy film Ladies First, working again with Rosamund Pike, played Young Otis, Asa Butterfield’s character, in Sex Education – Series 4, and he voiced Kai in the animated feature film North. Ayrton has just finished audio work, which will air in September, has filmed a scene for an upcoming Apple TV series airing in 2027, and he has just started rehearsals for an unannounced play. Speaking with Ayrton, he answered our questions about recently playing Douglas in Shadowlands at Aldwych Theatre, his time as Michael Hobbs in Elf the Musical, originating Young Harry in Inter Alia, performing as Jeremy Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and his screen work.

Earlier this year, you were playing Douglas in Shadowlands at the Aldwych Theatre in the West End; how would you describe Douglas and how was it telling the story?

I would describe Douglas as a kind and imaginative child. He really enjoys C. S. Lewis’s books and Lewis’s company, but he doesn’t tend to show that a lot on the outside. He’s also very close with his mom, and that is probably, well, in my eyes, quite obvious, and he doesn’t enjoy his dad’s company as much. I really enjoyed how Douglas’s imagination brought Narnia into the story and how it sort of reflects Jack’s life as a child. (C. S. Lewis preferred to be called Jack instead of his actual name, which was Clive!) I particularly enjoyed the parts where Narnia opened up and we got to see into Douglas’s imagination. There are actually lots of funny bits in the story, and I really liked bringing the humour. And I also enjoyed playing chess and eating cake on stage every night.

What was it like being in the cast with Hugh Bonneville (C. S. Lewis) and Maggie Siff (Joy Davidman), and were you familiar with C. S. Lewis’s work before auditioning for a play based on his life and relationship?

Working with Hugh Bonneville was an honour, as obviously I’d seen him in Paddington before, and working with him was very fun. He was charming and very professional. Working with Maggie Siff was just lovely because she’s so warm and smart. She just gets everyone, and it’s just really nice to work with someone who understands everything. I was familiar with The Chronicles of Narnia before I was cast in the play, but I didn’t really know much about C. S. Lewis himself. I only really knew about the books, so it was really interesting to learn a bit more about the person behind it all.

Was there anything that drew you to the production, and how was it returning to the West End and the Aldwych Theatre so soon after finishing Elf the Musical?

Going back to the Aldwych after finishing Elf was… well, I really enjoyed it because I really liked the Aldwych itself as a theatre, and it really felt like my home after spending so much time there. I also really liked the familiar walk to the theatre over Waterloo Bridge, looking at all the landmarks and lights, and the other musicals and plays that were going on. It felt very special to still be a part of it all.

But in other ways, it was very different. We weren’t in the same dressing room, and everything, from the new set paintwork to the hair products in WHAM (wigs, hair & makeup), had a different smell, so it was kind of the same but different. I like to do a mixture of musicals and plays, and this was a very good opportunity to do a serious play. It felt very surreal to be back and to be doing something so serious after just finishing something very bright and upbeat.

How was it performing in Elf the Musical as Michael Hobbs and what was it like being part of a Christmas show?

It was amazing being in such a well-known Christmas show. It’s a really fun musical and is a highlight of a lot of people’s Christmases, so it was lovely to be a part of so many people’s festivities! And it was just genuinely a really, really great company to be a part of. The music was great. I really enjoyed the songs and the opportunity to dance, and it was just such an upbeat and happy show.

What did you find most enjoyable about playing Michael, and how was it seeing the audience response?

I loved playing such a cheeky character! I particularly liked dancing on the table, and there was also a fabulous duet with my “stage mom”, which was just a really, really lovely song to sing and usually brought a great response from the audience.

Oh, and not to forget, I really enjoyed eating a bowl of pasta basically every single day, even with the syrup in it, which was weirdly delicious. I’m very, very fond of pasta. But yeah, it was all-round really good.

What was it like originating the role of Young Harry (Jasper Talbot) in the world premiere of Inter Alia at the National Theatre last year (which starred Rosamund Pike), and how different was it working on your first play opposed to musicals?

I really enjoyed working on something that hadn’t been done before, working on something that was original and workshopping it a bit during rehearsals. We could change bits, and it was just great creating something brand new. Rosamund was just such a nice person to work with.

It was very different to working on an upbeat musical, but that’s not to say it was better or worse. In musical theatre, after a song or dance, you usually get a big round of applause, but in a play, um, the audience tends to wait to the end before you get a big response from them.

Inter Alia is a very serious play, and there are certain moments in the play where it was just so quiet. It built loads of tension. It was just incredible to see how you can still build an atmosphere with not much movement or vocabulary. Obviously, Rosamund’s performance was a masterpiece, and it was amazing to share the stage with her and learn from her.

You can still feel the audience’s mood changing even without having that constant tense or upbeat music that almost tells them how to feel. I just really enjoy the thrill of being up on stage, regardless of whether it’s a musical or a play.

What was Jeremy Potts like to play in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for their National Tour and what are some of your favourite memories from the run?

Jeremy Potts was very playful, funny and very inquisitive. Sometimes I think he was a bit naughty, but not like he was trying to be naughty. I think he was just very inquisitive. He and Jemima were just like that and didn’t know when to stop. All the people that worked on the production were just so nice.

I very much enjoyed being kidnapped by the Child Catcher (who, for most of my run, was played by the utterly wonderful Charlie Brooks, and who is absolutely not horrible in any way) and getting locked in a cage that transformed from an ice cream and lollipop cart! Oh, and obviously there’s the flying car, which was undoubtedly amazing!! Taking off for the first time was just incredible. You could definitely hear and feel the audience response to the car taking off, and it was just magical. Seeing posters of Jasmin, Adam, Ellie and I flying in Chitty, plastered all over iconic venues like the Liverpool Empire Theatre, was pretty special too.

How was it finding out you’d been cast as Jeremy in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and what was it like bringing the character to stage?

It was all a bit of a blur finding out that I was going to be in Chitty, because I was touring in China at the time and also juggling lots of other auditions for other projects, so it was just a bit of a whirlwind. I mean, I was suddenly on the plane back to London and straight into rehearsals for Chitty. I actually missed the first rehearsal because I was flying back, but once I was in there and got to meet everyone and got into the swing of things, it was so great. It was a change of pace from Love Never Dies, but if nothing else, I have learned over the years that I am adaptable.

How was your experience touring China in Love Never Dies as Gustave?

It was so different! It was very different to the UK. Chinese cities are quite futuristic. Outside of the hotels, no one speaks your language and the food is different, so sometimes it was a bit pot luck what you might get! People ride mopeds on the pavement!

It was quite hard to get into the swing of it initially, but we were so busy with rehearsals and schoolwork that I kind of snapped into it without even realising. The time difference made it quite hard to keep in touch with home, and I got a bit homesick at times, but the company were so nice and intuitive. They would see that you were a bit down and would reassure you that everyone felt it from time to time and that it doesn’t last.

Seeing the culture there and how everything worked was an amazing experience. I mean, there were room-service robots in some of the hotels, and all the theatres there were just colossal and amazing. They’re very different to traditional UK theatres, and it was all-round a brilliant place to be.

Then there were the amazing temples and parks to visit during our days off… I walked all the way up the stairs of a huge old temple, and the view of the mountains and the park from the top was unlike anything I had seen before. It also helped that I had the best roommates and the best chaperones looking after me.

And let’s not forget the reason I was there: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s amazing Love Never Dies score and the staging of this production were just insane!

What was it like playing Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol for your first professional theatre role?

Playing Tiny Tim was just incredible. I just loved the character and the song he got to sing. The company were so welcoming to little me, as it was my very first stage role.

We performed in Middle Temple Hall in London, which was the most beautiful venue. Tiny Tim has a sweet little solo singing moment, and performing that song made me realise how much I really enjoyed singing on stage and that I could really do it.

I had a lot of one-to-one coaching during rehearsals, and I could feel my singing getting stronger and stronger throughout. It massively boosted my confidence and benefitted me going into future auditions.

On screen, you play Tommy in the new Netflix comedy film Ladies First (also starring Rosamund Pike); can you tell us about your character and what were your scenes like to film?

Well, it’s funny because it’s the same character, but it’s basically two different people… Tommy in the normal world and Tommy in the parallel world, who are actually very different.

Tommy in the normal world is very energetic, boisterous and a bit naughty. We spent a whole day running up and down the stairs with my amazing “brother”, which was great. And then we switched to the other world, where we are basically calmer and more feminine.

We actually improvised those scenes quite a lot. Thea (Sharrock), the director, would tell us how the scene was supposed to feel and we just sort of rolled with it. Big Tom (Davis) and Sacha (Baron Cohen) were hilarious to work with.

How was it playing Young Otis (Asa Butterfield) in an episode of Sex Education – Series 4?

Doing Sex Education and playing Young Otis was a very fun thing to do. It was also the first production that I did, so it was very exciting going onto set for the first time.

But also, I didn’t really know much about my character, seeing that Sex Education is an 18 and it would be wildly inappropriate to watch it!!! So I had to rely a lot on the director to understand my character, and I think it went pretty well.

It was just so exciting, walking onto a massive set with all these rooms and lights set up. In the TV series, they are all miles away from each other, but in reality, they were just next door to each other. It was just insane.

Can you tell us about voicing Kai in the animated feature film North?

Voicing Kai was another new experience, as I hadn’t done any voiceover work before then. I really enjoyed the sound booth experience, being on your own with a microphone and a screen that showed the animation, and breathing life and personality into the animation. Parts of the animation weren’t completed at the time, but the bits that were just looked beautiful.

Where does your love of acting come from and how did you originally get into it?

So, the story goes that when I was really young, I wasn’t a big fan of going out much. My sister and I were always playing make-believe, dressing up and singing, so my mum thought I might like going to Theatre4Kids, a local musical theatre class. She was just like, “Go, sing and play with the other kids who like to sing and play!”.

And I actually loved it. I actually can’t really remember a time that I didn’t do T4K. I also remember going to see BATS, one of our local amateur theatre groups’s performance of Oliver!. My next-door neighbour was a fabulous Fagin, and one of the slightly older boys from T4K, Ed, was playing Oliver, and I was blown away. I think it was probably the first musical I saw.

There was a big children’s ensemble, and I remember saying to my mum, “Do they really let kids get up and do that…? I want to do it!”. Then a little while after that, my mum discovered that LJ, one of my T4K teachers, had formed her own agency, and everything has just sort of snowballed from there.

Do you have any favourite films, TV, and theatre shows to watch?

So, my favourite TV show is Stranger Things, and I do quite enjoy anime. I’m currently watching Death Note, which is like a murder-mystery type thing and is very interesting. And I’m very excited to go and see the Death Note musical at the Barbican this summer.

I absolutely loved watching the BACK TO THE FUTURE The Musical, which was brilliant, and so is the film actually. I really, really want to go and see Les Misérables sometime soon.

Film-wise, I’m a big Steven Spielberg fan: Jaws, E.T., Jurassic Park, Hook… He is such a great storyteller.

What do you enjoy most about acting, and how do you like to spend your time away from it?

I think I’m just really imaginative, and I like creating a character, whether that’s on stage or on TV. Singing also makes me feel really free, so any time I get to do that is a bonus!

When I’m away from acting, I enjoy playing with my friends. We tend to make lots of mini movies ourselves. I also love playing football and playing the guitar.

What do you hope the rest of 2026 brings you and do you have any upcoming projects that you can speak about?

I’ve actually just finished doing some audio work, which will be airing in September. I am about to start rehearsals for a play, but I can’t say too much about it at the minute, except that it’s got an amazing cast and the director has done some utterly brilliant stuff in the past. I cannot wait to get stuck into rehearsals.

I also filmed a scene for an upcoming Apple TV series last year, which will be airing in early 2027 – a fun one to look out for!