Behind the velvet curtain of London's theatreland, the cloak-and-dagger act is as old as time itself.

Only the faces have changed. Along the streets that now accommodate Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Cameron Mackintosh, once strode Marlowe, Bacon and a young William Shakespeare.

The Bard of Avon he may have become, but even Shakespeare had to start somewhere. Neither was he immune to the internecine politics of Elizabethan Equity.

"I 'ad that Christopher Marlowe in my boat once," says a water-cabbie as he ferries Will across the Thames in Tom Stoppard's ingenious and fabulously-received film about those times.

Shakespeare in Love, which opens in Bradford this weekend, has already won a clutch of Golden Globe awards in Hollywood and is tipped to do the same at the Oscars in March.

It has given its star an entre to the showbusiness big time after a probationary period whose brevity would have made Shakespeare mad with envy.

Joseph Fiennes is one of twins, the youngest in a family of seven whose eldest is an actor with a name spelt Ralph but pronounced Rafe.

Joseph, who is happy for his name to be said as it is written, is just 28 and one short year on from his cinematic debut in the comedy Martha - Meet Frank, Daniel and Lawrence.

He also has two years at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford under his belt. But it is his role as that company's founding father that has made him famous.

His portrayal, however, is a long way from the one that history has handed down.

"Shakespeare is sacred ground to a lot of people so one has to tread cautiously," he says, "but it's also nice to infuriate and break the pattern of how the icon should be respected.

"So I took him as a hustler, someone in a profoundly unstable competitive environment - a bit like Los Angeles, I imagine. He's hustling for work, he's keeping the wolf from the door and he's looking for copy."

In Stoppard's script, which had originally been shown to Fiennes six years ago, before he was even out of drama school, Shakespeare is suffering from writers' block, struggling to complete a play to which he has given the working title, Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter.

He drinks coffee from a mug inscribed with the legend, Souvenir of Stratford-upon-Avon, and he competes with his rivals for the attentions of theatre managers like Philip Henslowe and Richard Burbage.

It is the love of a good woman which eventually clears the creative cobwebs from his head. Unfortunately, the woman in question (Lady Viola De Lesseps, played by Gwyneth Paltrow) is disguised as a man, because subterfuge is the only method by which an Elizabethan female can attempt a career on the stage.

The film's plot is thus reminiscent of many authentic Shakespearean ones, but its humour is contemporary. "I know something about a woman in a man's profession," harrumphs Queen Elizabeth.

Will soon sees through the dramatic irony and it isn't long before passion ensues with the lovely Viola.

"It wasn't my first passionate love scene, but it always feels that way," says Fiennes. "The passion has to come across, but it is a fairly cold process. Fortunately, Gwyneth brings a spontaneity as soon as the camera rolls. She has depth, skill and warmth."

If he's to be believed, the love scenes were the least fun to film.

"Mostly, we were having such a great laugh that I worried about the audience seeing it and wondering what we thought was so funny," he says.

"But I managed to sneak into a viewing and the crowd was so vocal and full of empathy for the characters, it was almost like a live Shakespearean piece of theatre."

The Bard's era is one in which Fiennes thinks he would have felt at home. "I'd love to have lived back then," he says. "It was a very Mediterranean period, a passionate age, violent and dangerous.

"With the birth of Shakespeare, Marlowe and the new sciences, it was truly a golden age, even though we were about 100 years behind the Italians."

Fiennes is reticent about his private life, preferring not to talk about his recent separation from his girlfriend of six years, Sara Griffiths, or his reported romance with the actress Catherine McCormack, herself seen as a rising talent.

Nor is he especially forthcoming about his relationship with his elder brother. "Ralph gave me a lot of encouragement during drama school," he says, "but at the end of the day you're on your own. Everything boils down to the individual."

He is happier returning to professional territory and his next project, a film called Rancid Aluminium.

"It's set in the present and I'm playing a mysterious accountant in a grey suit," he says.

"It's a complete contrast from Shakespeare. Just the sort of thing I was looking for."

Nevertheless, the Elizabethan theatrical milieu continues to fascinate him. "To an audience, there's something very sexy about the life of theatre and what goes on. It's not glitzy, it's hard work, and there's blood, sweat and tears back there.

"But that's why it translates so wonderfully into a film."David Behrens

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