Joseph Fiennes

Joseph Alberic Twiselton-Wykeham-Fiennes simply signs Joe Fiennes. Just as well. He signed two sketches for me earlier this year while playing T E Laurence in Terrance Rattigan’s bio-drama ROSS at the Chichester Festival Theatre. The first was him in the Laurance of Arabia role and the second was this montage from two productions in which he played the title. Joe’s first professional stage appearance was in the West End in THE WOMAN IN BLACK in 1993, followed by A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY opposite Helen Mirren and John Hurt, which I was lucky enough to see. Joe has also appeared in some high profile films, including ELIZABETH and the Bard himself in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, for which he earned BAFTA and SAG Best Actor nominations.

In September 2005 he played George Dillion in EPITAPH FOR GEORGE DILLON at the Comedy Theatre and Cyrano in CYRANO DE BERGERAC at Chichester in 2009 which are both depicted in my drawing.

The play ROSS is Terence Rattigan’s bio-drama about English archaeologist, military genius and diplomat T. E. Lawrence. It is bookended with a framing device when Lawrence was hiding under an assumed name as ‘Aircraftman Ross’ in the Royal Air Force in 1922, before flashing back six years under a malaria-induced fever dream to his involvement as a liaison officer in the Arab Revolt against the Turks where he became known internationally as ‘Lawrence of Arabia’.

It premiered in 1960 at London’s Theatre Royal, Haymarket with Alec Guinness in the title role, who went on to portray Prince Feisal in the Oscar-winning David Lean epic LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, Steven Spielberg’s favourite film and his inspiration to become a filmmaker.

To mark the centenary of the outbreak of the Arabian Revolt, the Chichester Festival Theatre staged a rare revival of ROSS this month, directed by Adrian Noble and featuring Joseph Fiennes, who returned to the stage after seven years to play the British hero, in what many critics called a tour de force, capturing Lawrence’s troubled spirit. Michael Billington in the Guardian wrote, “Fiennes gives an accomplished performance in an elegantly mounted production.”

I sent this sketch of J.F. as T.E. to him at the theatre for signing and he graciously did so.