Dear England

A Northern Theatre News review from Leeds Grand Theatre.

Worried this is only for football fans?

Don’t be!

If you love the game you will enjoy all the set pieces and knowing winks. But if you don’t, the storytelling is so strong that it will still delight. This is character work first. Sport second.

First, a quick recap for those who don’t know the story.

David Sturzaker as Gareth Southgate

Dear England follows the fate of Gareth Southgate, played brilliantly here by David Sturzaker, the new manager of the England football team from his initial appointment through to his resignation. He was a controversial appointment, expected to only be an interim manager, who ended up surviving the ‘impossible job’ for eight years and 102 matches.

What we get with the play isn’t just what we saw on TV, what we get is the inside view on the quiet revolution that Southgate led. From bringing in a psychologist to work with the team, Pippa Grange, played here by the amazing Samantha Womack. Through to the technical analysis of how and why England always lose penalty shoot-outs.

And we get the timeline of results, the highs of breaking that penalty hoodoo, the lows of the losses and the oh-so-nearlies. Right up to his resignation and Tuchel taking over.

Samantha Womack as Pippa Grange

The football sequences are pure theatre magic. I knew the outcomes and it did not matter. Movement, sound, and crowd psychology had me leaning forward as if I was seeing those results for the first time, or maybe an alternative universe version where the result was about to be different.

Of course that wasn’t the case. We still didn’t win, and the heartbreak was still real, resulting in a cheek swipe or two.

But what also struck me was seeing what happened when the noise drops and people admit what they fear and who they want to be. This is not just a story about England under Southgate, this is so much more.

The play covers themes of identity, leadership, kindness, pressure, how a flag can hold both pride and pain (yes, that flag!), and it is all in this play about football, handled with real care and compassion.

Great ensemble!

I’ve touched on David Sturzaker and Samantha Womack, but shout out to the excellent ensemble cast who cover a dozen shirts and pundits with real snap. I loved the Gary Lineker interjections and Big Sam moments, I’m still grinning now!

Also want to mention the staging. Es Devlin’s design keeps the stage clean and the story moving. Lockers slide. A glowing ring hangs above like stadium lights, projections are used to great effect and a penalty spot dead centre keeps pulling the eye.

You feel like you are in the stadium!

The music choices are smart too, and land right when the tension demands a breather. Twice the audience around me joined in a singalong, and you could feel the mood switch as if the players had just buried one in the top bin.

It runs at around two hours fifty with an interval, which reads like extra time on paper, yet it flies by in performance.

Call it a night of quick feet and dodgy tackles. A couple of VAR checks on my emotions.

Then a final whistle that feels hopeful and earned.

Back of the net.

Too many bad football puns?

Fair…

But what I loved most is that Dear England is truthful in a way that sneaks up on you. Not just the big public moments, but the private ones that sit between the headlines. The show keeps asking what winning really means, for this manager, for this team, for this country, and it answers with people rather than final scores.

Cast
• David Sturzaker as Gareth Southgate
• Samantha Womack as Pippa Grange
• Ian Bartholomew as Greg Dyke
• Steven Dykes as Sam Allardyce
• Ian Kirkby as Gary Lineker
• George Rainsford as Mike Webster
• Jake Ashton-Nelson as Jordan Henderson
• Luke Azille as Jadon Sancho
• Jass Beki as Bukayo Saka
• Ashley Byam as Raheem Sterling
• Oscar Gough as Harry Kane
• Jayden Hanley as Marcus Rashford
• Connor Hawker as Harry Maguire
• Tom Lane as Eric Dier
• Jack Maddison as Jordan Pickford
• Liam Prince-Donnelly as Dele Alli
• Courtney George as Alex Scott
• Ensemble Stuart Ash, Natalie Boakye, Ebube Chukwuma, Sam Craig, Miles Henderson, Alex Wadham

*most of the cast took on multiple roles.

Creative
• Writer - James Graham
• Director - Rupert Goold
• Set designer - Es Devlin
• Costume designer - Evie Gurney
• Lighting designer - Jon Clark
• Co movement directors - Ellen Kane, Hannes Langolf
• Video designer - Ash J Woodward
• Co sound designers - Dan Balfour, Tom Gibbons
• Additional music - Max Perryment
• Tour revival director - Connie Treves
• Casting director - Bryony Jarvis-Taylor
• Dialect coach - Richard Ryder
• Associate set designer - Alice Hallifax
• Associate lighting designer - Ben Jacobs
• Revival movement director - Thomas Herron
• Associate video designer - Libby Ward
• Associate sound designer - Johnny Edwards
• Casting associate - Lilly Mackie
• Resident director - Dan Hutton