Dear England

James Graham

National Theatre Production

Lowry, Salford

May 29-June 29, 2025; 2 hrs 50mins

Gwilym Lee getting behind his team in Dear England. All pics: Marc Brenner

“Quite a different audience profile,” commented my friend as we arrived at the Lowry for the much-feted and award-winning Dear England.  

And she was right: a substantial posse of middle-aged and older men had decided that a 3pm Sunday kick-off for this ode to Sir Gareth Southgate and his England team was sufficiently more football than theatre and warranted their attention.

But theatre it is, and gloriously so. Nothing but praise has been showered on the play since it premiered at the National Theatre in June 2023. And this mostly new cast has, as it were, taken the ball and run with it.

The story of Gareth Southgate’s reign as England manager has plenty of drama, but this play is about his focus (in an open letter to the team and country, hence the title) on what he saw as the squad’s head and heart issues, not their soccer skills. And if you think that all sounds a bit deep, well, it's also very, very funny.

Blink and Gwilym Lee is indistinguishable from Southgate, wearing the waistcoat with ease and channelling his tics and mannerisms. Joseph Fiennes is quite an act to follow, but Lee does it with style.

The squad, led by Ryan Whittle’s comedy turn as Harry Kane, is as energetic, athletic and at times balletic as any football team - much more than some, indeed, but this is neither the time nor the place....

With set design by Es Devlin, the Lowry’s cavernous, rotating stage and nothing more than a collection of red plastic chairs, the squad ebbs and flows as the team struggles to come to terms with the boss (“Call me Gareth”…).

Liz White is psychologist Pippa Grange, and here there is a slightly weak link. She is of course the only woman in this testosterone-fuelled male environment, but I wanted her to be more solid somehow, firmer and perhaps just a touch headmistressy. Perhaps I just wanted her to be more Sarina Wiegman, the current Lionesses manager. In any event, she didn’t seem quite weighty enough to have persuaded Southgate to adopt such a revolutionary (and divisive) approach to the task in hand.

And this light touch from director Rupert Goold also creates one or two jarring moments when some of the other very difficult problems that beset English football are raised.

The despicable harassment of black players, the violence and lawlessness of fans, the lack of support and guidance for young men who have been hot-housed since childhood – all are referenced in the script but disappear in a flash as we move swiftly on.

At the other end of the spectrum, there is more than a touch of pantomime about the peripheral authority figures, from the fleeting appearance of Big Sam Allardyce to the unholy trinity of Teresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

A special shout-out to Josh Barrow as goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, who saves - and misses - a host of penalties while dancing excitedly with his back to the audience on the very edge of the stage.

It’s a testament to the talent of writer James Graham that a play about consistent failure and what it means to be English is such a joyous and heart-warming piece of entertainment.

More info and tickets here