But England was a different story, the bug biting when he was 13 and watched them lose to Germany in the Euro 96 semi-final, with Southgate missing the crucial penalty in the shoot-out at Wembley. He was never an obsessive club football fan. Graham grew up in Kirkby-in-Ashfield and he watched a bit of Mansfield Town as a boy and a bit more Nottingham Forest. He is fascinated by idiosyncrasies and anomalies, examining shifts in the national mood through his subjects.
Graham has made his name with studies of UK institutions, and what happens when those institutions are put in a moment of “crisis or change, and/or an individual comes in and disrupts it, or asks a huge existential question about why do we do this.” His breakout play in 2012, This House, portrayed life in the House of Commons, and his subsequent topics have included the Labour party, Rupert Murdoch and the Sun newspaper, as well as Brexit. It’s a really quiet guy – with the role of England manager, the Impossible Job.” The first time I cried over a football match, I couldn’t understand what I was feeling. And I’d imagine it is that glorious juxtaposition of small and huge. So how do you hit the back row of this auditorium with a quiet man? Can goodness fill a space rather than violence and rage? Joe was just really tickled by the role. “But there is something epic about him – just not in the obvious ways. “In the first instance, Gareth’s not obviously captivating, is he?” Graham says. This was when he took a likeable young squad to the semi-finals, creating a feel-good factor and burying the nation’s penalty curse with the last-16 shoot-out win over Colombia into the bargain. Graham is nevertheless captivated by his protagonist and has felt that way since the 2018 World Cup, Southgate’s first tournament as the England manager. I don’t know what to make of it, really.”
Does he intend to see the play? “No, I won’t be going,” he has said. Southgate’s reaction has been typically unassuming, self-conscious even. Composite: Tom Kenkins/Gary Mitchell/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images ‘Generous casting’ … Gareth Southgate and Joseph Fiennes.
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