Shakespeare to Southgate: Fiennes to play England boss
HE is best known for wearing Elizabethan doublets and frilly collars while portraying Shakespeare In Love.
Now actor Joseph Fiennes can look forward to another distinctive costume – the trademark smart waistcoats of England manager Gareth Southgate.
Fiennes, 52, is to play the football boss in a National Theatre stage play with a limited run this summer.
Dear England is inspired by Southgate’s ‘journey’ since he infamously missed a crucial penalty against Germany in the semi-final of Euro ’ 6 at Wembley.
It will also focus on his ‘cultural reform’ of the national team during his six years as manager.
The play’s blurb says: ‘The country that gave the world football has since delivered a painful pattern of loss. Why can’t England’s men win at their own game?’
Playwright James Graham, who wrote BBC One drama Sherwood, said: ‘To tell this story of the national game on the stage of the National Theatre is just the greatest thrill, if an intimidating responsibility.
‘What Gareth Southgate has attempted in his quiet cultural reform of England football, I find epic and deeply moving.’
National Theatre director Rufus Norris called the play ‘a captivating examination into the complex psychology of the much loved “beautiful game”.’
Fiennes, the brother of Ralph Fiennes, earned a Bafta nomination for playing the Bard in 1 8’s Shakespeare in Love opposite Gwyneth Paltrow.
He also had a major role in award-winning TV drama The Handmaid’s Tale.
Dear England will run at the National’s Olivier Theatre from June 10 until August 11. Tickets go on sale on March .