He came back from a disastrous penalty to reignite the English men’s football team – and inspire a country in the grip of gloom. Writer James Graham reveals how he turned the ‘quiet guy doing The Impossible Job’ into gripping drama
Before the European Championship final in the summer of 2021, Gareth Southgate was asked who ought to play him in a movie. “Well, it would have to be someone good-looking,” the England manager replied, with a smile. The matter has now been decided for him, albeit in a play. Joseph Fiennes is the blockbuster choice for the National Theatre production Dear England, a deep dive into Southgate’s transformation of the feeling inside and around the men’s national football team, written by James Graham, the acclaimed playwright and screenwriter. “A very generous casting,” Southgate said recently.
When I meet Graham during rehearsals, he is recalling his first meeting with Fiennes to discuss the project. “Joe had wanted to come back to the National for, like, 20 years.” He had last starred there in Love’s Labour’s Lost in 2003. “I’m sure he probably thought he’d come back and play Henry V or King Lear,” Graham says. “Now he’s Gareth from Watford.”
