Gareth Southgate: ‘Dear England’ actor Joseph Fiennes discusses why England manager is his ‘hero’

“Gareth is a hero to me, I think he’s a game changer.”

The highest praise for the English manager, from a superstar of stage and screen.

Joseph Fiennes stars as Gareth Southgate in the play Dear England, which embarked on a historic West End tour this week. This is the first dramatic play presented at the Prince Edward Theater since the Second World War.

This is the story of the England men’s football team, since Southgate took over in 2016, how he changed the team’s entire philosophy and made the nation fall in love with the national team again masculine.

“Gareth is pretty unique,” ​​says Fiennes. “I think he may have challenged what other managers have perpetuated, which is fear and masculinity: going out and winning.”

Fiennes’ portrayal of Southgate is strange. He has the same figure, the same beard, the same vest – of course. But more importantly, he captured the essence of the England manager: his mannerisms, his firm but gentle interaction with the players.

“I was really nervous about playing someone who is so well-known and in the news every day,” Fiennes says. “But the play itself is a bit fantastical.

“For me, beyond the mannerisms, the facial expressions and the vests – which is also great for the audience, because they can say ‘Ooh, it’s Gareth’ or ‘Oh yes, it’s Harry Kane’ – the piece has other themes underneath. .

“I think the critical moment for Gareth was in 1996 (when he missed a penalty against Germany in the Euro semi-final at Wembley).

“And for me it’s fascinating to see how that changed him, how he grew from that and how that led to the person and the manager he is today. It’s about all those worst things we think could happen to us, which are mysteriously there to forge a new you.”

More than 75,000 people saw the show at the National Theater over the summer, earning “Dear England” a West End tour, which has just started and will continue into the new year.

The play was written by one of the hottest prospects in British and American theater and television – James Graham.

He has written numerous plays which have been performed in the West End and on Broadway, and is currently filming the second series of the BBC drama series “Sherwood”, which he also wrote.

“We all have a relationship with the England football team,” purrs Graham.

“We have all watched the journey of Gareth and these players over the last few years. It has been an extraordinary transformation.

“We all remember how we felt in 2016, the loss to Iceland, the collapse of the Euros, Sam Allardyce’s one game – it felt like a low point in the sport and we we were wondering how the hell we were going to get out of this..

“So the fact that Gareth succeeded so quickly, so magnificently, by focusing on things that managers hadn’t focused on before – masculinity, culture, fear, vulnerability, identity, l ‘story – it’s compelling!’

Dervla Kirwan – well known to British television viewers and who won a National Television Award for her work in Ballykissangel – plays Dr Pippa Grange, the psychologist Southgate has recruited to work with the England team in the build-up to the 2018 World Cup.

Dr. Grange was rarely seen by the media, but he made a big impact in changing the mentality of players behind the scenes.

“Perhaps his invisibility was not only linked to misogyny in football, but also a personal choice,” says Kirwan.

“Because women receive such negative and violent reactions on social media and in the press, maybe it was her way of protecting herself. And she works in a very private way, to take the players aside and talk to them, and be like a horse whisperer or a football whisperer.

“But kudos to Southgate for bringing him in. He recognized there was an imbalance and he needed a female presence.”

Inevitably, England’s checkered history with penalties at major tournaments is at the heart of the drama. From Southgate’s failure at Euro 1996, through the historic victory against Colombia at the 2018 World Cup, to Harry Kane’s unusual failure from 12 meters at Qatar 2022. All are dramatized under the eyes of the theater audience.

“Our game is also about learning to know fear and to look fear in the face, to look at the goalkeeper, to turn away and take your time, and to prepare,” Fiennes explains.

“And that’s where England seemed to have let down in all the big games: the penalties. So there was a big reform that took place, smoothly and with lots of participants.”

Another central theme of the drama focuses on England fans learning to love the England team again. Spending time with the cast and crew, it’s very clear that – even those who aren’t football fans – are admirers of Southgate and his brave, outspoken players.

“I had a very negative view of footballers,” admits Kirwan. “I thought they were prima donnas, I considered them overpaid.

“This play allowed me to understand them on a human level. They are all so young, they are 18 years old. They are babies.

“And they have the eyes of the world on them, plus the negativity that comes from social media. It’s tough. I don’t think all the money in the world is enough when you grew up just wanting to play soccer. “

Although the play has a beginning, middle and end, so does Fiennes’s account, which makes it clear that the end of Southgate’s story has not yet been written.

If Dear England’s message of newfound optimism is accurate, then the journey from Euro despair in 2016 should culminate with Southgate and his team lifting the Euro trophy in Germany next summer.

It would be a theatrical finale.

Dear England is playing at the Prince Edward Theater until January 13, 2024. Book your tickets at DearEnglandOnStage.com.

Sky Arts is a proud partner of the National Theatre, as part of Sky’s commitment to supporting the UK’s creative and cultural economy.