Gwilym Lee: ‘I’m using Gareth Southgate’s teachings to prepare to play him in Dear England’
After eight years away establishing himself on screen, actor Gwilym Lee is returning to the stage in the revamped Dear England. As he prepares to play the ex-England manager, he tells Fergus Morgan about the moments that have made up his theatre career
Although he was born in Bristol and grew up in the West Midlands, actor Gwilym Lee considers himself Welsh by birth. As a result, the 41-year-old’s next role – playing England football manager Gareth Southgate in the National Theatre’s revamped staging of James Graham’s Dear England – involves him stepping across a national divide.
“I can’t say I’m a football fan, to be honest, just because I didn’t grow up with it,” says Lee. “Being a Welsh family, rugby was more our sport, and I would always support Wales over England if they played each other. Nationality is complicated, though.
“Football players, for example, are often eligible to play for different countries. That is something the play discusses. There has always been multiculturalism in the English football team. Gareth’s great achievement is to welcome a multicultural fanbase, too.”
Lee started acting when he was a teenager through the Birmingham Central Television Workshop, then landed a part in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Richard III, aged 16. He went on to train at Guildhall, then star in Oedipus at the National Theatre, and Hamlet (2009) and King Lear (2010) at the Donmar Warehouse, before landing roles in the series Midsomer Murders and The Great, plus as Brian May in the film Bohemian Rhapsody (2018). Most recently, he has appeared in the second series of SAS: Rogue Heroes on BBC One.
“Jack O’Connell, who plays Paddy in the show, was part of Central Television Workshop in Nottingham when he was young,” says Lee. “We both take a lot of pride in that.”
Now, Lee is starring in Dear England, which won the Olivier award for best new play for its 2023 premiere, and has been rewritten to include England’s loss in the final of last summer’s Euros. It has been eight years since Lee last performed on stage, in Sam Hoare’s play Diminished at Hampstead Theatre. Why has it been so long?
“Well, I wanted to build up my experience in film and television,” Lee answers. “Covid happened, which put theatre on pause for two years. I had a child, too, and having a child and working in theatre doesn’t go hand-in-hand on a practical level. I have been waiting for the right thing to come along that I am willing to sacrifice time with my family for to do. And Dear England was it. It felt like an absolute no-brainer.”
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What production made you fall in love with theatre?
The first production I saw and loved was Julius Caesar at the RSC. David Schofield played Mark Antony. I remember he looked into the audience, caught my eye and gave me a mischievous wink. It felt so exciting and authentic and alive. David and I ended up shooting a series called Land Girls together. He didn’t remember that moment but he was thrilled when I told him how it inspired me.
What are you finding inspiring at the moment?
I saw Rami Malek in Oedipus the other day, and I was blown away. I thought it was a totally modern, creative and refreshing take on the play.
‘In Hamlet, just as Jude Law and I started fighting, the blade of my sword flew off. We ended up improvising this crazy, school playground grapple, rolling around on the floor’
What role do you really want to play?
I’d love to play Iago, or John Proctor in The Crucible. All Welshmen are born with the God-given ability to sing, so I have to put that into practice in a musical, too.
What do you wish you could change about the performing arts industry?
The perennial issue of underfunding. It was a tragedy that the National Theatre of Wales disappeared, but I am excited to see what Michael Sheen does with his new Welsh National Theatre. I would love to be involved in that somehow.
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What is the worst thing that has happened to you on stage?
I was Guildenstern in Jude Law’s Hamlet at the Donmar Warehouse in 2009. We did a week at Elsinore Castle in Denmark, during which I stepped up to play Laertes. In my first performance, in front of the actual Prince of Denmark, just as Jude and I started fighting, the blade of my sword flew off. We had to improvise a fight scene. We ended up doing this crazy, school playground grapple, rolling around on the floor.
What is the best thing that has happened to you on stage?
Probably King Lear, which I also did at the Donmar Warehouse. Derek Jacobi was Lear, and he would tell us stories about his first ever job working with Laurence Olivier. I felt this amazing sense of theatrical history. And Derek was absolutely extraordinary in it.
What projects are you involved in at the moment?
Dear England is at the National Theatre from early March. It is a great play. James Graham is so brilliant at taking a specific story and weaving in a much bigger statement about life and society in a non-didactic way. I’ve done a lot to get into Gareth Southgate’s head. I’ve watched endless YouTube videos and documentaries and listened to loads of interviews and podcasts. I read his book, Anything Is Possible, too, which is all about overcoming your fears. That has actually been quite useful to me, seeing as there is a certain amount of fear in returning to theatre after so long away. I’m using Gareth’s own teachings to prepare.
Dear England is at the National Theatre, London, from March 10 to May 24; the Lowry, Salford, from May 29 to June 29, and tours from September. nationaltheatre.org.uk
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