Last year, Barnaby Halliwell joined Cameron Mackintosh’s new production of Oliver! as Snatch Lightfoot, and continued in the role for almost a year, and in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest version of Starlight Express, Barnaby originated the role of Control, when the musical opened at Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre. Further stage projects for Barnaby have seen him play Michael Darling in the London Palladium’s 2023 pantomime Peter Pan, and he played Kurt von Trapp in The Sound of Music at Chichester Festival Theatre, which marked Barnaby’s professional stage debut. On screen, Barnaby took over voicing the role of regular character Ernest in Series 2 of the BBC animated series Monster Loving Maniacs, which is set to release later this year. We chatted to Barnaby about his time as Snatch Lightfoot in Oliver!, originating Control in the latest version of Starlight Express, playing Michael Darling in Peter Pan and Kurt von Trapp in The Sound of Music, and voicing Ernest in Monster Loving Maniacs.

What was it like joining the cast of Cameron Mackintosh’s new production of Oliver! last year as Snatch Lightfoot and can you tell us about the role?

Playing Snatch Lightfoot was really fun because the characters in Fagin’s gang were charismatic, cheeky and sly, but they also had a lot of nuance to them. In rehearsals, we made up backstories about how they had each got into the gang and what their childhood before that was like. We also had a lot of freedom to ad-lib and improvise when we were on stage.

It was a very different kind of role for me – most of my other roles have been playing children with good manners, and now suddenly I’m stealing from people’s pockets throughout the show! It was also nice to be with other child actors again, because that’s something that I hadn’t done since being in The Sound of Music in 2023. For Peter Pan and Starlight Express, I was the only child actor in the theatre – apart from the standby, who wasn’t actually on the stage – so it felt really nice just being in an environment where I was performing with lots of other kids again.

It was also probably the show with the most intense choreography I’ve ever done. At one point, I had to be dancing on a bridge about 20 feet in the air – I really enjoyed that!

You were performing in the show for almost a year; how different was that to your previous productions?

It meant I did a lot more shows – I performed in Oliver! 110 times or something crazy like that, which was almost double the amount I’ve done in any of my other shows. And then, when someone was ill, we had to do even more. Once, I had to do eight shows in one week because I was on standby and the person who was meant to be playing the role was ill, so I had to do all of their shows as well!

It was also different because it was the first time I’d done a very short set of rehearsals for a show – we had to learn it all in about four to five weeks.

How was it wearing the Victorian costumes?

The costumes themselves were amazing and really well designed, but I remember that in the first week of performing, the buttons kept falling off my waistcoat! The choreography we had to do is so slick and quick, and my buttons just literally kept coming off and falling onto the stage, so I was always going up to wardrobe with another button having fallen off.

You played Control in the latest version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Starlight Express; what was it like being part of the original cast and preparing to open at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre?

Being in the original cast for something like Starlight Express was just completely unique. I remember on the first day, we walked into the rehearsal studio and saw this massive set, which I wasn’t expecting at all. It was just amazing to walk in and see that for the first time.

The rehearsals were amazing because you got to see how the show changed and all the stuff that got cut out along the way. The first performance was nerve-racking because it was something I’d been working towards for about three months, but when I went on and did it, it was one of the most magical moments of my life.

What did you enjoy most about working on Starlight Express and taking on the role of Control?

It was a show that I almost couldn’t believe I was performing in because it was such a brilliant role. The whole show is Control’s dream, and they are in charge of everything that happens on stage, so performing that felt really empowering.

Also, in Starlight Express, the atmosphere on stage is different in many ways to other shows – everyone is on roller skates, and you’re in such close proximity to the audience that it feels, in a way, like they are part of the show, like they are the spectators of all the races.

Being on a scooter on stage was also a new experience for me, so that was probably one of the highlights too.

How was your time performing in the London Palladium’s 2023 pantomime Peter Pan as Michael Darling, and what was it like working with the rest of the cast?

Peter Pan was my second professional show, so it was kind of a relief when I got cast because I was like: ‘Phew! The Sound of Music wasn’t a one-off and I can actually do this again!’.

Before we started rehearsals, I had to have a ‘flight test’ because we had to be held up by wires and cables with harnesses to do the scene where we fly off to Neverland. So that was very cool, and it was even cooler when we did it on the actual stage!

The Palladium has such a big auditorium, and it was amazing to look out on the entire theatre like that. The cast were all amazing, obviously, and there were definitely some of the biggest names I’ve ever worked with (eg Jennifer Saunders and Julian Clary), and of course, they were all just so talented. I was a bit in awe just being able to perform with them.

Can you tell us about playing Kurt von Trapp in The Sound of Music at Chichester Festival theatre and how was it making your professional stage debut with the show?

I think The Sound of Music was one of the best shows I could have made my debut with because it was such a supportive environment. There were 12 children working in two teams, and it just felt like I was surrounded by people who were all supporting each other – that was great.

And playing Kurt was very, very fun because he experiences such a change between Act One and Act Two. In Act One, his emotions are very suppressed because he is forced into a lifestyle that doesn’t fit him, and then in Act Two, when he is reintroduced to music by Maria with the rest of the kids, it’s just like this big change.

So, it was almost like getting to play a different character in each act, but still having them both feeling connected.

I remember the moment I made my debut – I was really nervous, obviously, and we had this light backstage. When it turned green, we had to go on stage. So, it was still red and I was just like: “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God”. And then suddenly it turned green and we went on stage, and I was just like: “Wait, this is really fun!”.

I don’t think the nerves really came back after that because I just felt so happy and comfortable playing the role.

What was it like learning the choreography for The Sound of Music and telling the story of the musical?

Well, I was only nine when I started on The Sound of Music, and the choreography was very challenging for me to start with. But as I got further through the run, it felt like it was becoming more and more ingrained in my mind, and by the end it just felt very relaxed.

It was an amazing production to be in because the story of The Sound of Music has such great tone shifts – so sometimes there’s anticipation and excitement, and then sometimes it’s fear of all the threats at hand due to the war.

I think my favourite part was walking through the audience at the end, where we used the audience as a metaphor for the mountain. So basically, if you know the story of The Sound of Music, at the end the von Trapps escape through the mountains. The director’s choice was to use the steps in the audience as if they were the mountain, so at the end of every performance we’d climb through the audience like we were going through the mountain.

That was very cool and magical – you could see every member of the audience as you walked past.

What has it been like taking over the role of Ernest for Series 2 of the BBC animated series Monster Loving Maniacs and what is it like getting into character as Ernest?

I think it was actually a benefit getting to take over the role in Season 2 because it meant I could watch the show from Season 1 and get an idea of the character before I’d stepped into the role. I had a couple of coaching sessions to get the American accent right, and then once I’d got it, it was just really fun to do.

We always got sent the scripts in advance, as you do with these kinds of things, so we’d read through them a couple of times and get some ideas for how to do the lines. Then we’d go into the recording studio every few weeks and just go for it!

How did you find the experience of voicing a regular character in a TV series, and how different is it to stage work?

It’s very different to stage work because when you do a take for a voiceover role, you usually do three takes, and you have to alter how you say the line each time. The director often has a set idea in their mind of which ways they’d like the line to be delivered, so it was great for learning to take direction on doing each of the lines differently.

And it’s really fun playing a regular character because there’s a different story for every episode. Monster Loving Maniacs has 52 episodes in each series, so even though it’s the same character, you get to play them having lots of different adventures, which makes it always really interesting.

How would you describe Ernest, and who do you think Monster Loving Maniacs will appeal to?

Well, Ernest as a character is very passionate and confident, although he can also be uncertain at times. His grandpa Arthur is actually quite terrified of monsters and so wants to seek them out and kill them, but Ernest and his sisters are monster experts rather than monster hunters, so they try to save the monsters instead of putting them through hard times.

Ernest wants to prove his grandpa wrong in some respects and show him that nobody – whether they’re human or not – should have to be mistreated.

Monster Loving Maniacs is advertised as being for six-to-10-year-olds, but I think that it can really be for any age because, although it’s a kids’ show, the storylines are great and the scripts are really funny, so it’s got a great mix of comedy and plot.

How did you get into acting and was it always something you wanted to do professionally?

I hadn’t really thought about doing it professionally until I got the opportunity because it hadn’t even occurred to me as an option. It started with me watching shows like Strictly Come Dancing and The Greatest Dancer on TV, and then, after watching them, I thought: “I want to take classes to learn how to do this”.

So, I signed up for some dance classes and, just by complete chance, I discovered that the musical theatre teacher at my dance school had been in a West End show and had trained some of the child performers. They suggested that I go and audition for that role, so although I had absolutely no clue what it would involve, we just decided that I would go and audition, not expecting anything to happen.

So I went to the audition, and I got a recall, and then I got another recall and ended up getting down to the final seven for the role, which was just something I’d never expected. I didn’t end up getting that part, but it was sort of a realisation that maybe there could be something here that I could do, and that it would be worth doing some more auditions.

The second show I auditioned for was The Sound of Music, and so everything just took off from there.

What are some of your favourite theatre shows to watch?

Well, of course I like most musicals – actually, I don’t think I could ever really hate a musical, and I’ll pretty much enjoy anything you give me. But if I had to choose a favourite theatrical experience, I would probably go for Evita. I saw the revival at the Palladium last year and it was absolutely amazing – I enjoyed it so much.

I also really enjoyed watching the new Harold Fry musical (The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry), which I saw earlier this year. It’s a very emotional story and the cast are really talented. I think new musicals are often underappreciated, so I really hope that it gets transferred to another theatre because it’s definitely a show that I think could be very successful.

I also saw War Horse at the National Theatre recently, and I’m really glad I did because it exceeded my expectations. I expected it to be quite simple, but then it turned out to be actually really complex, and there’s a lot of heart and emotion in the story.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not performing?

Well, I also like reading books, which I find quite relaxing. And I also enjoy watching TV with my family – I don’t really mind which genre; it can be a thriller or fantasy or comedy, or maybe all mixed together.

I have also had a big interest in history from a young age. I used to watch Horrible Histories every day and loved learning about all the different things that have happened, and that’s an interest that has never really gone away.

Do you have any projects coming up that you can talk about, and what are you hoping the rest of the year brings?

Well, Monster Loving Maniacs isn’t actually coming out until this winter, so I’m really looking forward to that. I’ve also done a TV dubbing project which is coming out in the next couple of months, but I’m not allowed to say any more about that at the moment.

As for the rest of this year, I’m really hoping it brings more auditions and more acting experiences. It doesn’t really matter to me what kind of role it is – I just really enjoy acting and performing!