Writer: James Graham
Director: Rupert Goold
Football and theatre aren’t generally a cross-over that sounds like it would work, but the true story behind how Southgate took the Three Lions through the Euros and the World Cup isn’t just about goals and glory, it’s about the mentality behind teamwork and the unification that England playing brings to the country.
In 1996, Southgate missed a crucial penalty in the Euros, causing England to be kicked out of the competition, and marring Southgate’s career somewhat, constantly reminded of it by the press and fans who have never quite forgiven him. When he was given the interim manager job for England, many thought he wasn’t ready, vilifying him for being ‘too nice’ or ‘too soft’, not expecting him to do much with the team and bearing results similar to his predecessors. So when Southgate got England through the qualifiers, the finals of Euro 2020 and then to the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup he had surpassed expectations and bought records home for England that others hadn’t, even if the trophy itself hadn’t come home with them.
James Graham’s production focuses mainly on the behind-the-scenes: the tactics, mindset and psychology behind Southgate’s decisions and preparation for the games. As sport has evolved, players are no longer just known for their work on the pitch – social media has allowed them to also express their personalities and showcase political affinities and activism which is outlined in the script. The racism many players experience is touched on well, and so is the encouragement of discussing your feelings and having emotions within a men’s sports team with a variety of touching, well-written scenes.
The whole cast is faultless; each actor completely transforming into their characters so impressively that it’s like having the team on stage themselves. Pickford (Josh Barrow), Mike Webster (Paul Thornley), Physio Phil (Lloyd Hutchinson) and Kane (Will Close) bring a lot of comedic moments through their portrayals, and Southgate (Joseph Fiennes) is excellently identical as the slightly awkward, pensive, England manager.
The set (Es Devlin) and lighting (Jon Clark) design are impeccable – on the surface, a relatively simple bright white oval similar to the roof of a football stadium hangs above the stage but, as the production goes on, rotating sets of changing rooms and football pitches are introduced, visually striking and suiting each scene perfectly. The back of the stage frequently features projected images; scenes from old matches, landscape drawings and statistics, which really brings the production to life. The football scenes are transformed almost into contemporary dance pieces, choreographed perfectly with each kick, save or header conveyed to the audience.
If you don’t follow football, this is still a very enjoyable show. While some of the references may be lost on you, and you might not necessarily appreciate how well the cast has encompassed the mannerisms of the icons they are playing, the storyline itself is an easy one to follow. If anything, it may even go in your favour – by not knowing the outcomes of penalty shootouts and hearing Harry Kane’s comedic not-so-eloquently poetic insights for the first time will be as gripping as it is for those who know the story inside out.
The only red card for this production is the length. Running at 2 hours and 50 minutes, it’s effectively as long as two football matches put together, which feels unnecessary in order to be able to tell the story in its entirety. 30 minutes or more could easily be trimmed from this by making some of the scenes more succinct – many of Southgate’s motivational speeches start to become quite similar, so although it’s important they’re referenced, don’t necessarily need to be individual, full, drawn-out speeches each time. The first half spends a long time on the build-up behind Southgate’s psychology and putting the team together before the qualifiers, with very little action outside of this, meaning the second half at points feels slightly rushed. Rather than cramming in the Euros, World Cup, Covid, Lionesses victory and Qatar controversy into one act it would be more impactful spacing it out more and giving each part a bit more time to breathe.
This production brings together the worlds of theatre and football in a very artistic manner, scoring points by cleverly tackling some of the wider issues in football. While England themselves didn’t bring it home, the Dear England team definitely have. This show is a keeper, but needs to get rid of some of that extra-time to become fully victorious!
Runs Until 13 January 2024
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