She’ll get her man, no matter what
In less than a week Troy Warring hits the stage at the Theatre Royal as Jimmy, hotly pursued by Anna Burns, as Gloria, in the Antics Theatre production of Glorious. Glorious is a fast-paced play featuring Gloria Lord, the daughter of a wealthy businessman, described as ‘‘a hurricane in high heels’’. She meets Jimmy, an aspiring writer who moonlights as a waiter, at one of her father’s cocktail parties. In true Gloria fashion, she decides that she will marry Jimmy, no matter what he says.
This is Warring’s third play in a row, with only two actors in the cast. Following Romantic Fools and Secret Lives of Henry and Alice, Glorious brings new challenges.
Warring has been working hard memorising the 120-page script, and acknowledges the huge amount of trust required between the two actors on stage.
‘‘It’s difficult. You’ve got to trust the other person to remember their lines, too,’’ he says. ‘‘It all falls apart if either of us forget our lines. It’s pretty challenging.’’
Also challenging for Warring is playing the quiet, inward character of Jimmy.
‘‘I’ve never played that sort of quiet character before. Jimmy keeps a lot inside, so I’ve got to stop moving and think how Jimmy would be feeling.’’
The script, written in the 1930s, has its own particular style.
‘‘The language is a bit more polite than today. There’s not a single swear word in it, which is quite unusual for a play.’’
With so much script to remember, Warring says it’s a matter of learning each page, one by one.
‘‘We’re having a ball, but right now it’s at the edgy stage. There’s always one line that trips you up. It doesn’t matter how much you rehearse, but on the night it will all be great.’’
Now into his 25th theatre production, Warring also has three films to his credit, and another beginning after the season of Glorious.
Burns calls herself a ‘‘ late bloomer in the theatre’’, having spent many years in the chorus until landing her first lead role as Sandy in Grease with Nelson Musical Theatre.
‘‘Predominantly a fan of performing in musicals, it’s only in recent years that I have sunk my teeth into some grittier roles,’’ she says.
These have included Silly Cows, Ghost Writer and Virginia Wolf.
A finalist for the Playmarket New Zealand Play Award, Glorious, by Richard Huber, combines a funny script with ‘‘a delicious verbal cat-and-mouse with the rat-tat-tat of a Katharine Hepburn & Spencer Tracy comedy’’.