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James Corden Delayed His Play’s Start to Watch England’s Euro Quarterfinal

The Old Vic Theatre in London, where Corden is starring in “The Constituent,” turned into an England-Switzerland watch party venue for both actor and audience.

Even a day job couldn’t get in the way of James Corden watching a Euro penalty shootout. The dramatic England-Switzerland match’s denouement coincided with the start time of Corden’s West End play The Constituent.

Corden told The Guardian he and his cast and crew all also wanted to watch the final moments of the game, so they agreed to delay the start of the play to watch it with the audience. “We heard a ‘Yessss’ from the audience, and we looked at each other and said: ‘They’re all watching it.’ We looked out and there were loads of little lit-up phones in the audience,” Corden said. “It wasn’t the time to start a serious play about serious issues.” It became a collective watch party, with the crowd cheering as England defeated Germany to move on to the Euro Semifinals. The 10-minute delay didn’t affect the cast’s performance, he said. “It was our second performance of the day so we were already in the rhythm of it,” Corden said. “But I wonder if it would have been different if we’d lost.”