Critics await as Cantona prepares for stage role

We know Eric Cantona, footballer turned actor, can play himself because he did so in fine style in Ken Loach's 2009 film Looking for Eric. But does he have the skills to act on stage in a contemporary two-hander involving intensive dialogue? Parisian theatre critics are rubbing their hands at the prospect.

Face au Paradis ('Faced with Paradise'), which stars Cantona and the young French film actor Lorant Deutsch, will be directed by Cantona's wife, the award-winning actress Rachida Brakni, at the Theatre Marigny on the Champs-Elysee.

Eric and Rachida (above) are seen as a glamorous couple in artistic circles these days - he's established himself as a photographer too - and are assured of a good box office. But the role is a demanding one, given that it's King Eric's theatrical debut. As Joelle Guyot, theatre critic for France Culture radio, told the Observer, the project is laden with risks and the part will leave him "enormously exposed".

But for a man who, at the peak of his powers with Manchester United in the 1990s, was prepared to launch a kung-fu kick at an opposition fan he took exception to, appearing on stage at the Marigny holds no fears. He said on French TV last week that he was thrilled at the prospect. What he wanted from the theatre, he said, was "a relationship, a real excitement, a direct relationship with the people".

Rachida said she had been searching for some time for a role that would suit her husband when she read the new play by Nathalie Saugeon. "I wanted to find him a part that would measure up to his talents," she said. "Eric is a very demanding person. He is someone of great rigour, great discipline and great talent."

Despite the risks, Gayot thinks he will be admired for putting himself on the line, whatever the outcome. "I think people like him because he takes risks," she said. "I don't think the critics will go to annihilate him." We will find out when it opens on January 26. ·