Stage Directions: Gloria Obianyo – ‘I want to do things that help me grow, not only as an actor, but as a person’

What production made you fall in love with theatre?

I’m not sure there really was one specific production, but when it comes to how I got into theatre, my answer will always be the same: High School Musical.

What did you miss most about theatre during lockdown?

I missed being in the wings, mucking about, right before going on stage. That moment when you are standing around being silly, then suddenly shut up and be serious. That’s what I missed the most.

What are you finding inspiring at the moment?

I’m really into the podcast Keep It!. It’s an American podcast produced by Ira Madison III, who is also one of the hosts, and it is about the marriage of pop culture and politics. I look forward to listening to that every week.

I’m currently into season two of the Netflix show Outer Banks, which is about a group of teenagers who find a treasure map. It’s a nice bit of escapism. And I watched Selling Sunset like my life depended on it.

What do you wish you could change about the performing arts industry?

I wish more people would put their money where their mouth is. When it comes to diversity, I think a lot of people talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk.

What role do you really want to play?

I’d love to play Tracy Chapman somehow, maybe in a musical biopic or something.

What projects are you involved in at the moment?

I was in A Christmas Carol at London’s Old Vic. I was in one of the editions of the Living Newspaper at London’s Royal Court and I have done a few workshops. I also started recording a few demos of my own music. I’ve not released anything yet, though, because I always think it could be better. I should just do it, though. I should get out of my own way.

Now, we are in previews for Paradise, Kae Tempest’s version of Sophocles’ Philoctetes at the National Theatre. It is an all-female company and it is easily one of the best rehearsal rooms I have ever been in. Ian [Rickson, the director] is so attentive. All of us made a manifesto together, specifying how we treated each other and how we behaved and what kind of vibe we wanted. That was nice.

I play Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, who gets dragged into this mess between Odysseus and Philoctetes. He is a warrior and he has basically been chewed up and spat out by the machine that is the army, that is patriarchy, that is toxic masculinity.

We’ve had a lot of conversations about gender. I am definitely a woman playing a man, but I’ve chosen not to focus on the differences between me and my character, but what we have in common. Everyone has both male and female characteristics anyway, don’t they?

Kae is so brilliant. I had a session with them where we just went over the rhythm and percussion of the text, and it was so cool to be in the same room as someone who has such an amazing control over the musicality of words like that. Even simple, throwaway lines have their own inner rhythm. In my mind, Kae has written something really powerful, something really extraordinary.

Paradise is at the National Theatre until September 11. For more information go to: nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/paradise