TO his colleagues in the Royal Air Force, this arrogant and withdrawn man is named aircraftman Ross.

But little do they know just a few years earlier he was revered as a hero known as Lawrence of Arabia.

A legendary figure in the First World War with a story which has become ingrained into British culture, Thomas Edward Lawrence never received an official commission but went on to mastermind some of the most notable victories during the bloody conflict.

Lawrence was instrumental in drumming up the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire.

But Terence Rattigan’s play, simply titled Ross, looks to dissect the man behind the myth, as Shakespeare in Love star Joseph Fiennes takes up the hefty mantle of Lawrence of Arabia.

As to the man who was hailed a hero by so many retreated into self imposed exile, Fiennes says Lawrence was trying to escape the legend he had helped create - initially embracing the attention with “ an element of vanity” before later realizing the repercussions of what he had done.

“There is two sides, the legend and the history,” says Fiennes. “There are so many experts on Lawerence, although I am not pretending I am one but I am learning rapidly and it is all about finding the man behind the myth.

“You have to go back to the Somme and the awful loss of life, a quarter of a million injured, and it looked like there was no way forward.

“It is interesting when Aqaba was taken, brilliantly so, how this chink of light appeared in the war and began to break the stalemate, so the press were pretty quick to celebrate the glory.

“It was front page news and from that historical event the myth began to build.”

Throughout the war Lawrence served as a liaison between Bedouin tribes and the British forces, and ended up embarking on a campaign of guerilla warfare supporting the Arabs against the ruling Turks.

His victory at Aqaba, a strategically important Red Sea port, is what propelled him into legend as it paved the way for Arab forces to take Damascus and overthrown the Ottomans.

However, his hopes of Arab independence were dashed as the French and British drew up plans to divide up the Middle Eastern territories - being left disillusioned by their actions and his own celebrity status.

“He does not want to be Lawrence of Arabia, he just wants to be a one number in hundreds as Ross,” says Fiennes. “That tells you a huge amount about the ramifications of what he did and what he went through.

“He was an intelligent poet and a brilliant artist, if you read his autobiographical account Seven Pillars of Wisdom it is extraordinary.

“His voice in Seven Pillars is just amazing, he was a craftsman and a brilliant observer. But he was clearly withdrawn, with many faces and a contempt for authority. The man has no identity.”

Lawrence is probably most famously immortalised in the 1962 film titled simply Lawrence of Arabia, which presents a slightly romanticised view of the man and his exploits - with the titular character portrayed by Peter O’Toole.

But Fiennes says while preparing to play the lead in Ross he has avoided its influence as it is more the “myth”, saying “I do not want to look at it, I do not want to be influenced by it”.

“At the heart of Lawrence is the sense of determination and willpower,” says Fiennes. “He was a Greek scholar in a way, his understanding of the importance of self knowledge is something which drove him to this extraordinary level of willpower.

“He could out Bedouin the Bedouins and he could ride hundreds of miles in the blistering sun, that takes determination.

“There was something in there for him to prove to himself and others he would push through these barriers and walls of great physical pain.”

Former Royal Shakespeare Company artistic director Adrian Noble makes his Chichester Festival Theatre debut with this production.

Fiennes says a letter was sent to Noble which revealed a connection between Lawrence and the identity of Ross which he would later assume.

“It was a from a gentleman who had discovered Lawrence in Arabia from 1914 to 16 had befriended an aircraftman named Ross, “ he says.

“This gentleman had given him a watch and there was a great friendship there, and this would have been a man who greatly supported him as there were a lot of people who were very anti-Lawrence and his tactics and methods.”

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