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Two of Shakespeare’s famous lovers are to get an older makeover as Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones star in a new production of Much Ado About Nothing directed by Mark Rylance.

Rylance suggested how wonderful the pairing would be to Redgrave, 75, after observing her rapport with Jones, 81, in Driving Miss Daisy on Broadway.

Redgrave’s decision to accept the role and make her debut as the fast-talking Beatrice inspired Rylance to direct the Old Vic production — his first directing job in more than a decade.

He said there was a close bond between himself and the veteran actress, as both have suffered the tragic loss of daughters.

Rylance’s stepdaughter Nataasha van Kampen collapsed on a flight and died of natural causes unexpectedly in July, and Redgrave’s daughter Natasha Richardson died aged 45 after a skiing accident in 2009. “It is something that Vanessa and I share,” Rylance said.

This shared grief is likely to give added poignancy to the scenes in Much Ado where it appears the young girl Hero has died. “The central event of the play is the way the tension is dissolved in the apparent death of Hero. There’s a resonance for Vanessa and I in the play.”

He thought it apt to have Beatrice and her eventual husband, Benedick, older than recent pairings such as Catherine Tate and David Tennant or Zoe Wanamaker with Simon Russell Beale.

Rylance, who won an Olivier for playing Benedick in 1993 and presented an all-female version of Much Ado when he ran Shakespeare’s Globe, said the text was full of “the callousness of youth and the wisdom of age”.

“Beatrice and Benedick being mature is not new. I’ve just pushed it much further. When I said to Vanessa it was a shame they hadn’t played Beatrice and Benedick, Vanessa, with her wonderful enthusiasm for the possible, said, ‘Do you think it would work?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I don’t see why not. It’s certainly something I would love to see.’”

Actor and playwright Rylance is currently in Twelfth Night and Richard III in the West End, where the company at the Apollo became a “very close family” after his stepdaughter’s death.

Kevin Spacey, artistic director of the Old Vic, where Much Ado is part of the new season announced today, said the combination of Rylance and the two stars would be “a pretty amazing way to begin our 10th season”. The production previews in September next year.

www.oldvictheatre.com