Olivier Awards 2025 winner Layton Williams tells City AM The Magazine about the ridiculousness of being nominated for playing a lump of ice, how he can’t slay everyday now he’s 30, and his hopes to return to Strictly Come Dancing, but this time on the judging panel
“I would hope the 20 years I’ve been in this industry speaks for itself,” says Layton Williams. “And I guess it does! Oh my god, I’ve probably cried about five times today.”
Four hours earlier, Williams had been nominated for British theatre’s most prestigious accolade, one of the Olivier Awards, for something completely ridiculous: his role in an X-Rated Titanic parody musical in which he plays an iceberg. Camper than a shopping spree with Joan Collins, and featuring most of her wardrobe, there’s a scattering of old ladies in the audience, but most are drunk twenty-somethings.
It is at best ludicrous and at worst has offended middle England: there have been complaints, but he shrugs them off. “It makes me laugh. Did you not know what you’re getting yourself into? Read about shows before you book them.” But they’re old ladies, Layton! “Bless them.”
Nominated for one of the Olivier Awards for Titanique? It’s actually so crazy
Slumped on a couch backstage at the Criterion Theatre and wearing half a face of make-up, Williams wears a baggy black hoodie and black shorts. He’s unrecognisable from the red carpet image that precedes him. Williams is one of the most fashionable breakthrough West End stars, especially after his stint on Strictly Come Dancing in 2023. But as he tells me, he’s 30 now, and not every moment can be fabulous. That is too exhausting. Life these days is “a bit more low key,” he admits. “It’s not all day everyday, slay.”
When he was younger, Williams made history. He was the West End’s first black Billy Elliott and the first black Jamie in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. In his adult years, he has sustained the quality of his performances, and has risen to become one of the West End’s fan-favourite talents, most notably as the Emcee in Cabaret, the role du jour in Theatreland right now for actors who want to test themselves and put their own stamp on a character (Williams’ Emcee was – as you might expect – gleefully camp).
One of the Olivier Awards – Best Supporting Actor in a Musical – for playing an iceberg!?
So it feels funny that playing a lump of ice is the role that’s being critically lauded. But it is testament to his lifelong confidence that he can make a silly-sounding role astoundingly good (I reviewed and gave the show four stars). In one of the most barnstorming moments, he performs Tina Turner’s River Deep Mountain High with such impressive wigs and makeup that it could be the legend herself. Oh, and the singing is alright too. “It actually is so crazy. For the iceberg! Do you know what I mean?” In his Olivier Awards acceptance speech last night he echoed the same sentiment, saying: “”I just won an Olivier for playing an iceberg! If this can happen to me, a little boy from humble beginnings, it can happen to you too.”
You get the impression that nothing touches the sides – or at least that’s how he wants to come off. That’s probably to do with how he was brought up. Growing up as one of eight boys in Bury, Greater Manchester, Williams spent his early years on the Dicky Bird Estate. Put politely, it was a challenging place to grow up queer. There have been shootings, and the drone of the M66 running close by is a defining characteristic.
Read more: Titanique London review: Celine Dion musical is a titanic hit
As a young boy, he passed as a ‘chav’ to fit in with the local boys, but dreamed of escaping. Aged 12, that actually happened when Williams attended an open audition for the role of Billy Elliot and landed the part. He went on to study at the Sylvia Young and Italia Conti acting schools in the capital. He also landed television roles: aged 13, he starred in the film Beautiful People, and ended up moving in with one of the female producers and her wife. “They basically brought me up throughout my teenage years. I can’t tell you how beautiful it is to grow up as a queer teenager in a household where it’s normal,” he told The Guardian. “They just let me be me, and I think that’s a big reason why I’m the confident gay man I am now.”
I don’t want to cry like Baby Reindeer, but I need of try and work out how to shake a handful of toxic fans
Now he lives in London with his boyfriend of nearly two years after the two were set up at Glastonbury by Billie Piper. “We call her our Cupid because I wouldn’t have met James without her!”
Ballroom dancing will remain a mainstay in Williams’ life this summer, when he returns to Blackpool to film The Light Fantastic, a film about the ballroom dancing scene with LGBTQ legend Rupert Everett and Jeremy Irvine. It’ll be his first major feature and he fizzes with excitement when talking about it, exhibiting the same keenness that must have caught the eyes of casting directors almost 20 years ago. “When I found out they were attached, I was like, fuck!” he says. “It feels like it’s gonna be very special. I can’t remember the last time there was a British musical movie with original music. Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, maybe.”
The gag is that his character isn’t a good dancer, so Williams doesn’t need to go into rehearsals, buying him precious time with his family after a six-month stint of eight shows per week in the West End. It’s hard to be close to eight siblings, but his northern life grounds him. Most of them won’t have heard of the Olivier Awards, and he says that’s helpful. “It’s actually really nice. Normal life is so important.”
This has been especially true of late, when troubling fan encounters have made his high profile life feel more than a little uncomfortable. People hanging around outside the theatre and bothering him has been stressful; he’s been vocal on Instagram about avoiding them for his own safety. It comes amid much online conversation about how fandoms can turn toxic; Chappell Roan and Taylor Swift have spoken out about fans whose obsessive behaviour has crossed over into harassment.
He looks stern and genuinely uncomfortable when he says: “I need to shake them. I’m just gonna be honest and just say, ‘Listen, you make me feel uncomfortable. Let’s make this work for all of us. But this isn’t riding for me right now, and that’s just the truth.’ I actually am a bit worried currently. Worried that we’re gonna have to do something about it. I don’t want to cry, like Baby Reindeer, but I need of try and work out how… I don’t know how I’m gonna figure it out, but something needs to be done.”
Strictly was another challenge – viewers and some critics criticised Williams’ casting as a professional dancer but he became a fan hit anyway. Judges were reportedly scoring him to a different standard, but he said at the time “I’m not sad about that – I want to rise to the challenge.”
He’d like to return to Strictly Come Dancing, only this time as a judge. Speaking about that, his spark and resilience returns. “I want to sit and judge you now, do you know what I mean? Like, I don’t want anyone telling me whether they think this or the other. I want to be in the judging seat!”
Titanique runs until 8 June; london.titaniquemusical.com
